Case Studies: Comparing Exposure Levels by Type of Welding Operation and Evaluating the Effectiveness of Fume Extraction Guns

Details

• Personal Author:
  Sheehy, John W. ; Shulman, Stanley A. ; Wallace, Marjorie E.
• Description:
  Plant and Process Description: The evaluation was conducted in a plant that manufactured steam ovens for use in commercial and military kitchens. Fabrication of the steam ovens primarily involved straight-line welding of stainless and boilerplate (carbon) steel. The three main welding techniques used at this site were solid-wire gas metal arc welding (GMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), and flux-cored arc welding (FCAW). GMAW and GTAW were used to weld stainless steel (SS) parts, while FCAW was used to weld boilerplate. During GMAW, a solid-core wire consumable is continuously fed through a welding gun while a shielding gas is supplied at the gun tip to prevent oxidation of the base metal. At this site, the GMAW shielding gas was a mixture of argon and carbon dioxide. The FCAW technique is similar to GMAW, except that the wire is hollow and filled with a flux core. The flux can be composed of various metals or minerals that promote the weld process by removing impurities and preventing oxidation. A carbon dioxide shielding gas was supplied during FCAW. In comparison, the GTAW technique uses a welding gun equipped with a fixed, non-consumable tungsten electrode to generate the arc. A consumable stainless steel electrode is held near the arc to supply filler metal. An argon-based shielding gas was used at this during GTAW. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Metals Occupational Health Safety Welding
• Keywords:
  Exposure-levels Stainless-steel Tungsten-compounds Welding-industry
• ISSN:
  1047-322X
• Publisher:
  Taylor & Francis Limited
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  16
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20021917
• Citation:
  Appl Occup Environ Hyg 2001 Aug; 16(8):771-779
• Editor(s):
  Tharr D
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• NORA Priority Area:
  Work Environment And Workforce ; Research Tools and Approaches: Exposure Assessment Methods
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:92948f49e0b810b47928bdea31aaaaaabed6a77d804f5a039deea7e15fbe0b622ecbc29a87eff4de25b34568599964e9ebb14016d2327186f087e201efc18a9b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/198997/cdc_198997_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 331.45 KB ]