Chemistry of airborne particles from metallurgical processing

Airborne particles fall into one of three size ranges. The nucleation range consists of nanoparticles created from vapor atom collisions. The decisive parameter for particle size and composition is the supercooling of the vapor. The accumulation range, which comprises particles less than 2 micrometers, consists of particles formed from the collision of smaller primary particles from the nucleation range. The composition of agglomerates and coalesced particles is the same as the bulk vapor composition. Coarse particles, the composition of which is determined by a liquid precursor, are greater than 1 micrometer and solidify from droplets whose sizes are controlled by surface, viscous, and inertial forces. The relationship between size and composition of airborne particles could be seen in welding fume, a typical metallurgical aerosol. This analysis was performed with a cascade impactor and energy dispersive spectrometry with both scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM-EDS). Other methods for properly characterizing particles were discussed. In the analysis, less than 10% of the mass of fume particles for various types of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) were coarse, while one-third of flux cored arc welding (FCAW) fume particles were coarse. Coarse particles had a composition closer to that of the welding electrode than did fine particles. Primary particles were not homogeneous. Particles larger than the mean free path of the carrier gas had the same composition as that of the vapor, but for particles 20 to 60 nanometers, smaller particles were more enriched in volatile metals than larger particles were. This was explained by the cooling path along the bubble point line of a binary phase diagram.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Jenkins, Neil Travis, 1973-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Thomas W. Eagar.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/17033
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/17033

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/17033