Chemical Composition and Toxicity of Particles Emitted from a Consumer-Level 3D Printer Using Various Materials

Abstract

Consumer-level 3D printers emit ultrafine and fine particles, though little is known about their chemical composition or potential toxicity. We report chemical characteristics of the particles in comparison to raw filaments and assessments of particle toxicity. Particles emitted from polylactic acid (PLA) appeared to be largely composed of the bulk filament material with mass spectra similar to the PLA monomer spectra. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), extruded at a higher temperature than PLA, emitted vastly more particles and their composition differed from that of the bulk filament, suggesting that trace additives may control particle formation. In vitro cellular assays and in vivo mice exposure all showed toxic responses when exposed to PLA and ABS-emitted particles, where PLA-emitted particles elicited higher response levels than ABS-emitted particles at comparable mass doses. A chemical assay widely used in ambient air-quality studies showed that particles from various filament materials had comparable particle oxidative potentials, slightly lower than those of ambient particulate matter (PM 2.5 ). However, particle emissions from ABS filaments are likely more detrimental when considering overall exposure due to much higher emissions. Our results suggest that 3D printer particle emissions are not benign and exposures should be minimized.

Polymerizable Oxime Esters: An Efficient Photoinitiator with Low Migration Ability for 3D Printing to Fabricate Luminescent Devices

“…[5][6][7] Many applications have been developed with a wide range of uses, such as, for example, personalized consumables, dental materials, food production, biomaterials, and tissue engineering. [1,[8][9][10][11] In photochemical based 3D printing, the photosensitive system mainly consists of monomers, oligomers and photoinitiators. Under irradiation, radicals or cations generated from photoinitiators initiate the monomer/oligomer polymerization.…”

“…DLP 3D printing, involving layer‐by‐layer rapid photopolymerization of photosensitive liquid resin to solid polymer, makes use of the outstanding features of photopolymerization, such as cure on‐demand with spatial control of the curing process and energy savings and therefore has attracted much public attention in recent years [5–7] . Many applications have been developed with a wide range of uses, such as, for example, personalized consumables, dental materials, food production, biomaterials, and tissue engineering [1,8–11] …”

3D-Printed Lab-on-a-Chip Diagnostic Systems-Developing a Safe-by-Design Manufacturing Approach

“…PLA emitted particles were compositionally similar to the PLA monomer, while this similarity was not present in the ABS emitted particles. Additionally, PLA emitted particles were comparatively smaller (14 ± 25 nm average diameter) than their ABS counterparts (71 ± 20 and 106 ± 20 nm average diameter for each type of ABS tested), a characteristic that is highly likely to have determined their higher toxic potential [99]. Another study, performed by Farcasa et al [100], confirms the in vitro toxic potential of ABS and Polycarbonate (PC) emitted particles.…”

“…Seeing that release of particles from 3D-printed processes has been confirmed under several different print configurations and workplace conditions, and exposure is reasonably expected, it is vitally important to note that the toxic characteristics of the emitted particles have been evaluated as well. Zhang et al [99] have demonstrated that particles emitted from consumer level printer operation using PLA and ABS filament material can display comparable particle oxidative potentials to those of PM2.5. Quite interestingly, in vitro and in vivo investigations performed in this study showed toxic responses being manifested from both PLA and ABS-emitted particles.…”

3D Printed Lab-on-a-Chip Diagnostic Systems - Developing a Safe-by-Design Manufacturing Approach

“…Toxicity of emitted particlesSeeing that release of particles from 3D printed processes has been confirmed under several different print configurations and workplace conditions, and exposure is reasonably expected, it is vitally important to note that the toxic characteristics of the emitted particles have been evaluated as well. Zhang et al[99] have demonstrated that particles emitted from consumer level printer operation using PLA and ABS filament material can display comparable particle oxidative potentials to those of PM2.5. Quite interestingly, in vitro and in vivo investigations performed in this study showed toxic responses being manifested from both PLA and ABS-emitted particles.…”