Influence of Grit Size and Wood Species on the Granularity of Dust Particles during Sanding

Abstract

Wood dust poses a threat to the health of employees and the risk of explosion and fire, accelerates the wear of machines, worsens the quality of processing, and requires large financial outlays for its removal. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which the grit size of sandpaper influences the size of the wood dust particles and the proportion of the finest particles which, when dispersed in the air, may constitute the respirable fraction. Six species of hardwood (beech, oak, ash, hornbeam, alder, and walnut), and three species of softwood (larch, pine, and spruce) were used in the research. While sanding the samples under the established laboratory conditions, the following were measured for two types of sandpapers (grit sizes P60 and P180): mean arithmetic particle size of dust and finest dust particles content (<10 µm). Based on the obtained results, we found that the largest dust particle sizes were obtained for alder, pine, and spruce; the smallest size of dust particles during sanding with both sandpapers was obtained for beech, hornbeam, oak, ash, larch, and walnut. The mean arithmetic particle sizes ranged from 327.98 µm for pine to 104.23 µm for hornbeam. The mean particle size of the dust obtained with P60 granulation paper was 1.4 times larger than that of the dust obtained with P180 granulation sandpaper. The content of the finest dust particles ranged from 0.21% for pine (P60 sandpaper) to 12.58% for beech (P180 sandpaper).The type of wood (hardwood or softwood) has a significant influence on the particle size and the content of the finest dust fraction.

Granulometric Characterization of Wood Dust Emission from CNC Machining of Natural Wood and Medium Density Fiberboard

“…In addition, wood dust is considered to be one of the ten most common causes of occupational asthma. Dust toxicity depends largely on the type of wood raw material and products based on lignocellulosic raw materials, which results from the different content of chemical components and the hardness of the raw material [29].…”

Fire Parameters of Spruce (Picea abies Karst. (L.)) Dust Layer from Different Wood Technologies Slovak Case Study

“…Dust occurs in the environment in a wide range of particle sizes [20][21][22]. The particle size depends on the method of wood processing and its handling [23].…”

Efficiency of Machine Sanding of Wood

“…When planning a technological sanding process, several key aspects should be considered. Providing appropriate working conditions by reducing the exposure of workers to respirable wood dust in the air is the first important aspect [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Another group of problems are the economic issues of the used technology; in other words, obtaining high quantitative efficiency and productivity and the expected surface quality and/or accuracy of the shape for the workpieces.…”