Metal gouging and lancing liberate particles of an unknown size and composition. Fumes are formed when vaporized materials condense in air, creating fine and ultrafine particles which can agglomerate. Particle sizes may be <1 µm in diameter. Inhalation of this mixture of metal fumes can lead to adverse health effects. This study characterized fumes by particle size fractions and metal composition. As particles may be in the submicron range, the nano-size fraction was included. Randomized, side-by-side area samples of fumes liberated during gouging and lancing were collected. Samplers included the conductive plastic Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) samplers (inhalable fraction), GK2.69 stainless steel thoracic cyclones (thoracic fraction), aluminum respirable cyclones (respirable fraction), Nanoparticle Respiratory Deposition (NRD) samplers (nano-size fraction), and open-face filter cassettes (particle size distribution—PSD). Samplers were mounted at a height of between 1.3 m and 1.7 m, in the worst-case scenario area (down-wind). Forty-six samples were collected during gouging and 26 during lancing. Mass concentrations per fraction ranges (excluding nano-size) were found to be 1.27–17.27 mg/m³ (inhalable), 1.83–13.96 mg/m³ (thoracic) and 0.88–15.82 mg/m³ (respirable) for gouging; and 2.34–5.60 mg/m³ (inhalable), 2.82–4.01 mg/m³ (thoracic), and 1.89–3.24 mg/m³ (respirable) for lancing. PSD analysis confirmed the presence of nano-size particles with a mean size of 171.76 (±56.27) nm during gouging and 32.33 (±7.17) nm during lancing. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis of samples indicated the presence of chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), and tin (Sn) in the respective particle size fractions (including nano-size) of both processes. Negative health effects associated with metal inhalation are well known, while nanoparticles’ unique properties enable them to cause further detrimental health effects. The nano-size fraction should be included in personal exposure assessments and control measures.

金属气刨和切孔释放出未知大小和组成的颗粒。当蒸发的物质在空气中凝结时，会形成烟雾，从而形成细小和超细的颗粒，并会聚结。粒径可能小于1微米。吸入这种金属烟雾混合物会导致不良的健康影响。这项研究通过粒度分数和金属成分来表征烟雾。由于颗粒可以在亚微米范围内，因此包括了纳米级分数。收集在气刨和切缝过程中释放的随机并排区域烟雾样品。采样器包括导电塑料职业医学研究所（IOM）采样器（可吸入部分），GK2.69不锈钢胸腔气旋（胸腔部分），铝可吸入气旋（可呼吸部分），纳米颗粒呼吸沉积（NRD）采样器（纳米级分）和敞开式过滤器盒（粒度分布-PSD）。在最坏情况下的区域（顺风），将采样器安装在1.3 m至1.7 m之间的高度。在气刨过程中收集了46个样品，在采血过程中收集了26个样品。每部分范围的质量浓度（不包括纳米尺寸）为1.27–17.27 mg / m³（可吸入），气刨1.83-13.96 mg / m ³（胸腔）和0.88-15.82 mg / m ³（可吸入）；和2.34–5.60 mg / m ³（可吸入），2.82–4.01 mg / m ³（胸腔）和1.89–3.24 mg / m ³（可呼吸）供穿刺。PSD分析证实存在纳米尺寸的颗粒，在气刨过程中平均粒径为171.76（±56.27）nm，在切缝过程中平均粒径为32.33（±7.17）nm。样品的电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICP-MS）分析表明存在铬（Cr），铜（Cu），铁（Fe），锰（Mn），钼（Mo），镍（Ni）和锡（ Sn）在两种方法各自的粒径分数（包括纳米级）中。与金属吸入有关的负面健康影响是众所周知的，而纳米粒子的独特性质使它们能够引起进一步的有害健康影响。纳米级分数应包括在个人接触评估和控制措施中。