• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.65-75
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• 1998

The cases of welders illness by welding fume generated during arc welding are recently reported, which makes the legal regulation in the welding work place. Also, this situation makes the employers and welders be concerned about the welding fume seriously. At this point of time it is necessary that a standard testing method is developed as a fundamental tool for the evaluation of Fume Generation Rate(FGR) required for making progress in the development of low fume electrodes and welding process technology and also constructing the ventilation system in welding area. However, the current standard(KS D 0062) is only applicable to the manual covered electrode arc welding. In this study the evaluation procedure for the FGR is established by developing the fume collection chamber which can be applicable to semiautomatic and automatic arc welding as well as manual arc welding. This evaluation system and procedure can be used as a tool not only to develop the low fume welding electrode and welding process technology but also to construct the equipment controlling the welding workshop atmosphere.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 2001

The characteristics of the fume generation in a flux cored arc welding were investigated using the fume collection chamber developed. The Korean Standard concerning the method for the evaluation of the fume generation rate(FGR) was updated by the evaluation method obtained through this study. It was found that the effect of humidity in the test environment should be considered and the automatic welding method had to be employed for the purpose of the exact evaluation of the fume generation rate. The results showed that the fume generation rate was influenced by the welding parameters. The important factors were the welding current arc voltage, travel speed, and contact tip to work distance(CTWD) that affected the heat input as well as the torch angle and the shielding gas flow rate that influenced the shielding effect. The fume generation rate increased as the heat input increased and the shielding effect decreased. It was also observed that the effect of the welding current is much grater than the other welding parameters.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.76-87
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• 1998

The concentration of welding fume was measured by 221 welders themselves in chassis frame workplace of the manufactory from February, 1, 1996 to May, 31, 1997. Welding parameters were the welding current and the distance between helmet and arc. Those two optimum conditions were proposed by excess probability analysis using logistic regression, so the best position in the workplace was proposed considering two factors to control the welding fume. The results are as followings; 1) The excess proability of welding fume TLV was over 99% in above 260 Amperes of welding current and also in below 30cm of distanced between helmet and arc. 2) The equation from logistic regression analysis using SPSS/PC+5.02 had the welding current as a independent variable and the excess of welding fume TLV as a dependent variable (p<0.05). Logit(welding fume TLV) = 0.1296 ${\times}$ wlding currnet - 28.8750 3) The equation from logistic regression analysis using SPSS/PC+5.02 had the distance between helmet and arc as a independent variable and the excess of welding fume threshold limit value a, a dependent variable (p<0.05). Logit (welding fume TLV) = -0.6809 ${\times}$ distance between helmet and arc +25.1665 4) Considering both cases or 2) and 3). the result equation is following. (p<0.05). Logit (welding fume TLV) = 0.1346 ${\times}$ welding current -0.3859 ${\times}$ distance between helmet and arc -15.7382 5) The excess probability of welding fume threshold limit value was 100% in above 240 Ampere of welding current. Thus, below 220 Ampere can be suggested to reduce the 40% number of welders who have a excess welding fume threshold limit value. 6) The excess probability of welding fume TLV was 100% in below 34cm of distance between helmet and arc. Thus, over 38cm can be suggested to reduce the 33% number of welders who have a excess welding fume TLV. 7) Considering both 5) and 6) cases, first of all, the best welding current can be 200 Ampere to have a below 15% of welding fume excess probability for the welders who works in distance of 34-37cm. Secondly, to have a below 30% excess probability of welding fume TLV, the working distance must be over 38cm in 220 Ampere and 32cm in 200 Ampere. 8) To reduce the average exposure concentration of welding fume ($8.21{\pm}5.83mg/m^3$), the movable local exhaust system equipped with flexible hoods can be used.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.320-328
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• 2004

A number of health hazards are generated in welding processes. In this paper, the characteristics of fumes and some other hazardous agents in welding are reviewed. Fumes in welding are generated by complex mechanism like physical ejection of particles, oxidation-enhanced vaporization, vaporization-condensation-oxidation, and spatter contribution. Fume generation rates could be described as a power function in a given process. Most of fume constituents was originated from consumables rather than base metal. The mass distribution for the welding fumes is unimodal and very small to penetrate respiratory system. So, almost fractions of fumes are classified into the respirable particulate mass. Total chromium contents in FCAW were similar to those from SMAW whereas hexavalent chromium concentrations in fume were similar to those produced from MIG welding fume. Hexavalent chromium was mostly soluble which was similar to the characteristic solubility of fume hexavalent chromium from SMAW.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.506-512
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• 2007

This study was conducted to describe the exposure levels of welding fumes by the type of manufacturers, work process, welding type and the size of manufacturers, and to find out the trend of chronological changes of airborne welding fume levels. The subjects of this study were 509 manufacturers, consisting of 11 types of manufacturers, 3 work processes, 7 welding types, in Busan from January, 1997 to December, 2005. Airborne concentration of welding fume was determined by manual of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the data were analyzed by using SPSS 10.0 for Windows program. The mean concentration of airborne welding fume in all manufacturers was $1.29\;mg/m^3$ (Range: $0.01{\sim}3.00\;mg/m^3)$. The level of welding fume was the highest, as $1.96\;mg/m^3$, for manufactures of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, which was lower than $5.0\;mg/m^3$ of 8 hr-TWA in Korean permissible exposure limit for welding fume. There was a significant difference in the mean levels of welding fumes by work process, showing the highest in welding workshop ($1.39\;mg/m^3$), followed by pipeline welding workshop ($1.26\;mg/m^3$) and engineering workshop ($1.20\;mg/m^3$). Among welding types, the mean level of welding fume was the highest in the type of $CO_2$ & arc welding, as $1.46\;mg/m^3$, followed by $CO_2$ welding ($1.40\;mg/m^3$), shielded metal arc welding ($1.31\;mg/m^3$), spot welding ($1.27\;mg/m^3$), and so on. The highest mean level of welding fume was $1.58\;mg/m^3$ in work process of pipe line welding workshop for the manufacturers of basic iron and steel, and $2.27\;mg/m^3$ in the type of arc welding for the manufactures building ship and boats. By the size of manufacturers, the mean concentration of welding fume for manufactures in small scale with less than 50 workers was the highest as $1.45\;mg/m^3$ (Range: $0.07{\sim}3.00\;mg/m^3)$. The mean level of welding fume was the highest as $1.39\;mg/m^3$ both in 1997 and in 2005, showing a trend of fluctuating periodically within a range of $1.10{\sim}1.39\;mg/m^3$. The above results suggested that more effective control program for work environment producing welding fumes should be developed and applied since there were significant variations in welding fume levels by the type of manufacturers, work processes, welding types, the size of manufactures, and by year.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 1994

This study was conducted to evaluate worker exposure to welding fume in automobile body shop and to evaluate metal components by type of welding. The results are summarized as follows: 1. Average concentrations of total welding fume without and with ventilation were $5.2mg/m^3$ and $2.49mg/m^3$, respectively. Thus, the average reduction rate of total fume by ventilation was 52.1 %. 2. The highest fume concentration was indicated at shielded arc welding, followed by $CO_2$ gas welding, argon arc welding, and spot welding in order of decreasing concentration. 3. Average respirable fume concentrations without and with ventilation were $2.97mg/m^3$ and $1.64mg/m^3$, respectively. 4. Further analysis of welding fume indicated that total fume consisted of $Fe_2O_3$, ZnO, Mn, Pb, and CuO, in order of decreasing amount. Combined effect of metals was below the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)Threshold Limit Values (TLVs).

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.42-47
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to investigate for filtration efficiency of several dust masks, comparing with filtration efficiency certified by KOSHA(Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency), and to require of the right use of protective respirators. Using a welding fume generator and chamber, several dust masks, which were widely used in the workplaces in korea, were tested for their filtering efficiency for stainless steel arc welding fume. The filtration efficiency testing system consisted of a welding fume generator, a chamber and a filtration unit. The filtration unit was made of a mask which was inserted into the sampling cassette and another sampling cassette, which contained mixed cellulose ester filter paper. These two cassettes were connected with tubing. Stainless steel arc welding fume generator was delivered into an chamber. The welding fume in the chamber was passed into the filtration unit with flow rate of 30 liter/min. The welding fume filtration efficiency was evaluated by gravimetric measurement. Metal concentrations in the welding fume before and after filtration were measured with inductive coupling plasma analyzer. Following results were obtained: Filtration efficiency of welding fume for common hygienic mask was 63.82% and the average efficiencies for A, B, C, D, E, F and G masks were 94.62%, 96.58%, 83.20%, 82.76%, 77.25%, 86.55% and 93.22%, respectively. Our results indicate that dust masks used widely in the welding workplaces in korea are not proper for protecting worker's health and then the use of fume mask should be required.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.68-72
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• 1991

The present investigation studied the welding fumes produced during the arc welding process at a shipyard. The air at the shipyard was sampled (between February and May, 1990) to determine the total welding fume concentration, its heavy metal content and the concentrations of different sized particles of the welding fumes. The results were as follows : 1. Forty-four out of 50 samples showed welding fume concentrations which exceeding the threshold limit value of $5mg/m^3$. The geometric mean of welding fume concentration was $9.73mg/m^3$ ($2.14-24.86mg/m^3$), and the nighest level was found at the dock assembly shop ($12.0mg/m^3$). 2. The welding fume concentration measured with personal air sampler was 4.2 times greater than that measured with area sampler. 3. Of the heavy metals analyzed, Fe was found to be the most concentrated at $1.29mg/m^3$ ; it constitued 13.3% of the total welding fume concentration. 4. Of the different sized particles that make up the welding fumes, there was a tendency for the smaller particles to be more concentrated. Particles that measured $7{\mu}$ or less in diameter constituted 85.8% of the total welding fume concentration.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.87-95
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• 1998

The use of flux cored arc welding(FCAW) process has grown dramatically since it has been developed because of the remarkable operating characteristics and the resulting weld properties. The feature that distinguishes the FCAW process from other arc welding processes is the enclosure of fluxing ingredients within a continuously fed tubular electrode. The benefits of FCAW process are the increased productivity due to continuous wire feeding, the metallurgical effects derived from the reactions with flux, and the shapes of weld bead formed by slag. However, FCAW process causes the problem in working environment because it generates much more fume than other welding processes. Recently, the welding fume became a hot issue in the field after some welders were diagnosed as manganese toxcosis and siderosis. This study was started to investigate the characteristics of welding fume and utilize the results from the investigation to protect the welders from welding fume. As a first step, the effect of welding conditions on the fume generation rate(FGR) were investigated during FCAW process with $CO_2$ shielding. The considered welding conditions were welding current, arc voltage, travel speed, contact tube to work distance, and torch angle. The results showed that FGR was affected by all of these factors.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.35-36
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• 2006

In Nd:YAG laser welding, evaluation methods of welding flaw are various. But, the method due to fume shape is difficult to classification of welding flaw. The Nd:YAG laser process is known to have high speed and deep penetration capability to become one of the most advanced welding technologies. At the present time, some methods are studied for measurement of fume shape by using high-speed camera and photo diode. This paper describes the machining characteristics of SM45C carbon steel welding by use of an Nd:YAG laser. In spite of its good mechanical characteristics, SM45C carbon steel has a high carbon contents and suffers a limitation in the industrial application due to the poor welding properties. In this study, fume shape was measured by infrared thermal camera that is non-contact/non-destructive thermal measurement equipment through change of laser generating power, speed, focus. Weld was performed on bead-on method. Measurement results are compared as two equipments. Here, two results are composed of measurement results of fume quantities due to fume shape by infrared thermal camera and inspection results of weld bead include weld flaws by ultrasonic inspector.