Respiratory deposition of ultrafine welding fume particles

The inhalation and the deposition of welding-generated ultrafine particles in welders' respiratory tracts have been linked to severe pulmonary impairments. In the present study, a mobile aerosol lung deposition apparatus (MALDA) was developed and applied to study the respiratory deposition of ultrafine welding fume particles. The MALDA was constructed with a set of physiologically representative human tracheobronchial airway replicas made with high-resolution 3D printers. Ultrafine welding fume particles were generated in a welding fume chamber and delivered to the MALDA. A series of respiratory deposition experiments were carried out using the MALDA to investigate the deposition of ultrafine welding fume particles in different airway generations of the tracheobronchial airways. The results showed that the fractional deposition of ultrafine welding fume particle in the human tracheobronchial airways down to the 9th airway generation could be readily and systematically measured by the MALDA. The estimated cumulative respiratory deposition ranged from approximately 9–31% for ultrafine welding fume particles between 10 and 100 nm in diameter. The results acquired demonstrated that the MALDA developed has the potential to become a useful apparatus in the future to estimate the respiratory deposition of ultrafine particles in real workplaces.