10:10 am
322 Fryklund Hall
Abstract
The field of indoor air quality continually grows to accommodate novel pollutant sources as they are developed. Office equipment such as laser printers and photocopiers are known to emit volatile and particulate air pollutants, especially ultrafine aerosols. With the recent development and popularization of 3D printers, studies are needed to understand their potential emissions to indoor environments. 3D printing (also referred to as additive manufacturing or rapid prototyping) is a bottom-up process of creating a three-dimensional object layer by layer. As low-cost 3D printers are continually developed, personal-use units have become more popular in everyday indoor environments such as homes, offices, and schools. As shown in by studies published in recent years, heating and extrusion of polymeric materials generates ultrafine aerosols.
This talk will focus on an investigation of aerosols emissions from the operation of a 3D printer in a chamber study and also under real-use conditions. Specific objectives of this study were (1) to measure the time- and size-resolved emissions of ultrafine aerosols from the operation of a FDM 3D printer in a chamber study, (2) to gain insight into the chemistry of these aerosols through electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, and also (3) to perform comparative aerosol concentration measurements under real-use conditions in a variety of indoor environments.
Bio
Dr. Marina Vance is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research is focused on applying engineering tools to better understand and minimize human exposure to novel environmental contaminants, especially nanoparticles or ultrafine aerosols, from everyday activities and the use of consumer products.