The November 2013 edition of the journal Atmospheric Environment contains an article entitled Ultrafine Particle Emissions from Desktop 3D Printers, by Brent Stephens, Parham Azima, Zeineb El Orch and Tiffanie Ramos. The article is open access and available through the Science Direct website.

The article is rather technical in nature, but describes how the research team measured ultra fine particle emissions (UFP) from the types of 3D printer typically in domestic or office use. These nano-particles have been demonstrated to be harmful to mammals including humans.

Their methodology and statistical analysis is explained before moving on to results, discussion and conclusions.

The results show that mean concentration of UFP’s is almost three times higher during operation, meaning that these types of printers must be classed as “high emitters”.

The discussion offers an explanation of the medical implications of these findings, as well as the limitations of the study.

The authors conclude that “caution should be used when operating some commercially available 3D printers in unvented or inadequately filtered indoor environments. Additionally, more controlled experiments should be conducted to more fundamentally evaluate aerosol emissions from a wider range of desktop 3D printers and feedstocks”.

For further articles related to the 3D printing revolution visit the Innovating with Beauty section of the Foundation website.

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(photo: Dusting off a 3D-printed piece by Gracie Zheng from Flickr album by Neon Tommy)