In this study, the sample of welding fume was obtained from low and medium carbon steels and the electrodes used in welding. The microstructures of the particles were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR). In the experiments; Be, O, F, Fe, Si, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn were found to be atomically more than 1%. Based on this finding, it is revealed that the structure is composed mainly of oxides such as Fe2O3, Fe3O4, MnO2
En este estudio, la muestra de humo de soldadura se obtuvo a partir de aceros de bajo y medio carbono y los electrodos utilizados en la soldadura. Las microestructuras de las partículas se analizaron mediante microscopía electrónica de barrido (SEM), espectrómetro de dispersión de energía (EDS), difractómetro de rayos X (XRD) y espectrómetro de infrarrojos por transformada de Fourier (FTIR). En los experimentos se encontró que los elementos Be, O, F, Fe, Si, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn tenían contenidos atómicos superiores al 1%. Con base en este hallazgo, se revela que la estructura está constituida principalmente por óxidos tipos Fe2O3, Fe3O4, MnO2, TiO2, SiO2, Fe3Mn3O8, FeMn2O4, BeO, CrO. También se encontró mediante análisis XRD que los elementos con contenidos inferiores al 1% atómico se encontraban también asociados a fases en forma de óxidos. Debido a que las estructuras oxidadas amenazan el medio ambiente y la salud humana, se ha descubierto experimentalmente que los metales emitidos por los humos de soldadura siguen contaminando y amenazando el medio ambiente.
Metals have excellent mechanical properties compared to other materials in terms of hardness, toughness and strength (
According to the science of physics, welding arc occurs when electrons emitted from the cathode portion bombard the anode with a high speed as the electric current passes from one conductive metal to another. This bombardment causes a strong rise in temperature since it causes the ionization of the neutral molecules at the end of the impact (
Chemical composition of welding fumes depends on the welding technique used, welding parameters, melting, welding metal and welding electrode which has a composition of metal (
Welding fumes are caused by melting and evaporation of metal wire electrodes or dust during joining or coating of metals. A variety of metallic and non-metallic elements and compounds are present in the fume composition (
Inhalation of toxic metals and metalloids poses a risk to workers’ health in many industries. Today, among these health-damaging factors, great importance is given to the toxic effects caused by welding fumes (
Arc welding procedures emit solid particles and gases that may have adverse health-related effects following inhalation, including cardiovascular (
Previous works have reported some specific chemical composition of welding (
The welding fume sample was obtained from the fume of electrodes used in low and medium carbon steels and their electric arc welding since carbon steels are the most commonly used materials in the world (
The fume particles were aspirated at room temperature and collected in a ceramic filter. Microstructure analyses were performed with a field emission SEM (HITACHI SU5000) equipped with EDS operating at 10 kV. IR spectroscopy (Bruker Vertex 70 ATR) was used to measure the FTIR spectrum of the sample. The data were collected by vibration frequencies at 4000-400 cm-1scanning range at 4 cm-1 spectral resolution. X-ray diffraction phase analysis was performed with a Bruker D8 ADVACE with DAVINCI XRD (Cu-Kα radiation, Λ = 1,5406 Å in the range 10° ≤ 2θ ≤ 90° operated at 40 kV and 40 mA
The composition of the welding fume particles comprises different structures due to the cooling mechanism and the agglomerated method. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that approximately 90% of the fume is crystal structure (
Since welding fumes consist of ultra-fine particles, these structures were essentially shapeless. The structures of the phases obtained from the XRD analysis given in
Name | Formula | Crystal System | Peak Number |
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Zinc Manganese Iron Oxide | ZnMnFeO4 | Cubic | 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 |
Copper Iron Nickel Zinc Oxide | Cu0.1Fe1.9Ni0.65Zn0.35O4 | Cubic | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 |
Iron Manganese Oxide | Fe3Mn3O8 | Cubic | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 |
Manganese Iron Titanium Oxide | (FeMn)2TiO3 | Rhombohedral | 3, 6 |
Iron Manganese Oxide | FeMn2O4 | Cubic | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Manganese Iron Zinc Oxide | Mn0.09Fe0.08Zn1.83O4 | Cubic | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Zinc Manganese Iron Oxide | Zn2Mn8Fe2O4 | Cubic | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Zinc Manganese Iron Oxide | Zn4Mn6Fe2O4 | Cubic | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Zinc Manganese Iron Oxide | Zn6Mn4Fe2O4 | Cubic | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Zinc Manganese Iron Oxide | Zn9MnFe2O4 | Cubic | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Zinc Manganese Iron Oxide | ZnMnFe3O8 | Tetragonal | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Magnetite | Fe3O4 | Orthorhombic | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Fayalite, Manganoan | (FeMn)2SiO4 | Orthorhombic | 3, 9 |
Hematite | Fe2O3 | Tetragonal | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 |
Iron Oxide | FeO | Orthorhombic | 2, 3 |
Aluminum Oxide | Al2O3 | Orthorhombic | 2, 3, 4 |
Berylium Oxide | BeO | Hexagonal | 5 |
Chromium Oxide | Cr2O3 | Rhombohedral | 5 |
Copper Magnesium | Mg2Cu | Orthorhombic | 3, 4, 5 |
Periclase | MgO | Cubic | 4, 8, 9 |
Manganese Oxide | MnO2 | Hexagonal | 4, 7, 9 |
Sodium Oxide | Na2O2 | Hexagonal | 1, 3, 4 |
Nickel Titanium Oxide | Ni2Ti4O | Cubic | 3, 7, 8 |
Silicon Oxide | SiO2 | Monoclinic | 1, 3 |
Titanium Oxide | TiO2 | Cubic | 3, 7 |
Zinc Titanium Oxide | Zn2TiO4 | Cubic | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
Zirconium Oxide | ZrO2 | Rhombohedral | 2, 3 |
Welding fume is a product of high temperature. It is possible that a large number of elements or molecules present in the body can form very different compounds at these elevated temperatures. Based on this, information on the compounds giving peaks in the XRD analysis of the fume material was given in
Elements | Atomic% | ||||||||
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Point 1 | Point 2 | Point 3 | Point 1 | Point 2 | Point 3 | ||||
Be | 2,05 | 3,52 | 1,87 | 1,34 | 3,36 | 3,47 | 3,84 | 2,15 | 3,01 |
Fe | 30,48 | 13,21 | 28,41 | 30,73 | 31,27 | 55,01 | 41,51 | 34,89 | 47,50 |
Co | 0,29 | 0,19 | 0,13 | 0,40 | 0,23 | 0,02 | 0,04 | 0,27 | 0,39 |
Ni | 0,17 | 0,06 | 0,06 | 0,09 | 0,05 | 0,14 | 0,26 | 0,49 | 0,02 |
Cu | 0,34 | 0,10 | 0,12 | 0,01 | 0,18 | 0,57 | 0,26 | 0,20 | 0,28 |
Zn | 0,02 | 0,23 | 0,14 | 0,13 | 0,25 | 0,24 | 0,28 | 0,55 | 0,63 |
Na | 1,53 | 0,15 | 0,12 | 0,38 | 1,47 | 0,53 | 0,28 | 0,24 | 0,58 |
Mg | 1,42 | 1,07 | 0,52 | 0,13 | 1,71 | 1,15 | 0,97 | 1,41 | 1,00 |
Br | 1,86 | 2,09 | 0,42 | 0,28 | 2,05 | 0,45 | 1,17 | 0,83 | 0,56 |
Al | 0,04 | 0,25 | 0,07 | 0,06 | 0,05 | 0,05 | 0,06 | 0,05 | 0,05 |
Si | 11,22 | 16,35 | 3,24 | 1,91 | 19,67 | 4,26 | 3,48 | 8,56 | 1,97 |
P | 0,57 | 0,75 | 0,79 | 0,20 | 0,56 | 0,10 | 1,68 | 6,51 | 5,70 |
Zr | 0,36 | 0,48 | 0,15 | 0,02 | 0,11 | 0,60 | 0,08 | 0,02 | 0,62 |
Nb | 0,50 | 0,04 | 0,45 | 0,21 | 0,36 | 0,48 | 0,99 | 0,64 | |
Mo | 0,63 | 0,23 | 0,80 | 0,40 | 0,47 | 0,62 | 0,87 | 0,44 | 0,30 |
S | 0,38 | 0,02 | 0,10 | 0,05 | 0,02 | 0,05 | 0,06 | 0,05 | 1,69 |
Cl | 1,99 | 1,11 | 1,25 | 0,69 | 1,67 | 1,39 | 2,08 | 1,52 | 2,06 |
Pd | 1,03 | 0,73 | 1,38 | 0,77 | 0,79 | 1,00 | 1,66 | 1,16 | 0,95 |
K | 5,63 | 4,50 | 3,97 | 3,89 | 6,97 | 3,11 | 3,31 | 3,00 | 3,43 |
Ca | 10,13 | 5,51 | 24,05 | 16,48 | 7,02 | 3,61 | 4,43 | 7,90 | 2,46 |
Ti | 9,17 | 29,94 | 12,01 | 7,64 | 5,03 | 5,26 | 8,55 | 6,85 | 2,76 |
V | 3,46 | 3,27 | 4,43 | 4,71 | 3,81 | 5,24 | 6,63 | 3,26 | 5,98 |
Cr | 5,93 | 4,31 | 4,70 | 11,32 | 3,99 | 4,69 | 11,54 | 9,09 | 7,66 |
Mn | 9,76 | 11,87 | 10,83 | 18,14 | 8,91 | 7,65 | 5,92 | 9,91 | 10,30 |
The images of such structures were difficult to analyses with SEM. The small welding fume particles formed larger spherical agglomerated particles by the cooling mechanism from vapour state. These agglomerates appear on the micrographs as foam or finely mixed hair (
The welding fume was shown in
When the SEM micrograph in 110x magnification was examined in
When the EDS analysis of point 3 in
Smaller particles are subjected to higher degrees of overcooling in the first fume vapor. This causes the formation of primary particles in the fumes produced during welding. Thus, metallic particles in the chemical elements found in the welding are condensed and nucleated. The elements that are lighter in the fume may not be involved in nucleation and may be vented into the atmosphere. This resulted in the formation of higher amounts of elements such as Be, Fe, Si, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr and Mn in the source fume composition (
FTIR measurements were performed to investigate the bonds of functional free and complex molecules in the source fume (
Welded metal and additional metal have a rich chemical composition. During joining, a certain amount of this rich structure burns or evaporates and thus forms welding fumes. Welding fumes contain very different structures by its nature. 1139, 1257, 1407, 2848 and 2921 cm-1 peaks obtained from FTIR analysis were Al-O (
In this study, the molecular structure, compound structure and crystal structure of the elements which are formed after melting, evaporation and combustion were investigated. With this study; Be, Fe, Si, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr and Mn were found to be more than 1% of the total composition in the welding fume. Based on this finding, it is concluded that the structure is mainly composed of oxides such as Fe2O3, Fe3O4, MnO2, TiO2, SiO2, Fe3Mn3O8, FeMn2O4, BeO and CrO. Welding fume is released into the atmosphere as a high-temperature product. Therefore, it has been experimentally explained that combinations of oxidized structures characterizing welding fume have complex morphology and chemical properties. In addition, it was determined by SEM micrographs that other nano-sized particles were found to be amorphous.
These properties have potential effects on toxicity mechanisms. However, previous studies have experimentally showed that metals and heavy metals emitted by welding fumes still pollute the environment.
Therefore, it can be clearly stated that these materials are vented into the atmosphere and threaten the environment and human health because the fume produced during the welding process contains many different oxides and elements (
The data obtained in this study provide important information for understanding the effects of welding fumes on health and environment. More efforts should be made to reduce the emission values emitted by welding fumes to the environment.
I would like to thank Mehmetbey University, Scientific and Technological Research Application and Research Center, Material Characterization Laboratory staff, to whom I have received assistance in conducting this study.