Tom,
It depends upon what your cutting.
You can get an MSDS for any material that is delivered to your shop through the vendors who sell it. Also many big suppliers have MSDS for materials they sell online. You can simply Google "Aluminum Sheet MSDS" and get many hits that will have the MSDS sheets and they will tell you about dust, particulate and vapor dangers associated with the materials.
Thanks for the reply. I should have stated that I was concerned about the harful effects of the vapor/gas from cutting steel.
I did look on an MSDS sheet for steel, and the only gas mentioned was carbon dioxide. The mentioned the basic effects from breathing that as a lack of oxygen.
Reason why I ask this is, when we cut steel w/a torch, it doesn't bother me at all. But when we cut it w/the plasma, it drive me crazy. Burning lungs, and esophogus (sp?), and after exposure for more that a couple minutes, I get head aches, lethargy, and general disorientedness. I dont' understand why this is so pronounced when the plasma is being used, vs. oxy/acetyline cutting and welding.
Our company looked into all that a while back. As I recall, the major health concerns from cutting emissions were metal fumes, ozone, and nitrogen compounds.
The best solution is to have a positive ventilation system, whether it be an open door on a windy day, a blower, or an expensive air moving system.
Most metal fumes can be filtered out with respirators but ozone and the nitrogen compound gases cannot. Supplied fresh-air would be recommended if there is poor ventilation. However, increasing the distance to the cutting will reduce the ozone and nitrogen compound levels. (Hard to do with hand-held equipment.)
Common nitrogen sources are from the plasma gas, whether nitrogen is used or compressed air (remember that air is 70 something percent nitrogen).
Ozone is generated by the arc in a suitable atmosphere. Nitrogen and argon atmospheres produce higher level of ozone than other gases like carbon dioxide. Given distance and time , ozone recombines back to inert compounds, much like the carbon monoxide found in a welding atmosphere reverting back to carbon dioxide upon reacting with surrounding oxygen.
As far as metal fumes, it all depends on what you are cutting. No metal fume is really good for you, long term health effects are still being argued. But metals like stainless steel and others are known to be unhealthy.
Don't let all this scare you away. Respirators and ventilation work very well in keeping emissions low and out of your lungs (don't aim your fan at everyone else- they won't appreciate it). The problem is when we decide it takes too long to set up proper ventilation because we only have a little cutting to do.
You can get a lot more information from companies like Thermal Dynamics or Hypertherm.
Chet Guilford
Forum
