Welding Tips and Tricks

Multiplaz-3500 Evaluation, Part 13: Health and Safety Issues (continued)

DISCLAIMER!
Let me emphasize that I will not be able to tell you whether the Multiplaz-3500, or any other piece of equipment, will be a good investment for you. Only you can decide that. My intent is to provide as much factual information as I can about the Multiplaz-3500 so that others in our company can make an informed decision about that. The company has no objection to my sharing the information with you as long as I leave their name out of it and make it clear that I am not endorsing any particular product.
DISCLAIMER!

In Part 10 of this Evaluation I noted that the Multiplaz website made some unsubstantiated claims about the ability of the steam plasma to essentially eliminate any toxic emissions (both gaseous and particulate) from the cut or weld. A few days later I received the following email from Patricia Lewis-Hansen of Multiplaz USA

“
Dear Larry:
 
Thank you for your very thorough breakdown on Multiplaz 3500, and please convey my thanks to the group who retained you to do so.
 
I want to also assure that I have investigated the content on our website pertaining to the ecologically friendly operation.  History of this data was given to me from the Chairman of our company who purchased the product rights from the inventors.  The information came from an independent German group who did their own investigation for a possible purchase of the product for licensing prior to our Chairman purchasing the company.  Multiplaz European office will attempt to get the German research paper.
 
While I have acknowledged in my own independent presentations to potential users, that the lack of gas creates a cleaner environ for the process of welding to take place, I have never acknowledged a lesser difference in the particles directly. My discussion has been that most metals worked with Multiplaz  create far less “sparks” than traditional welding equipment, and are easier on the eyesight.  As you are aware, with the exception of new advanced welding methods, most welding equipment when working on certain metals, i.e.,  oxidation and other contaminants will have substantially more particles.
 
I believe the acceptance of the technology capabilities were translation problems from my European office, stemming from plasma welding releasing strong force when coming from the torch, capable of pushing certain particles away from the user
Our position is utilizing alcohol and not using inert gas, makes Multiplaz a healthier system for work in ventilated or non-ventilated areas, by eliminating the gas and having the plasma stream would seem to push/press, and or blow the smaller particulates especially the ones at 1 micron or lower away from the user.  This does directly address the larger particles however.
 
Based upon your very precise report, I will be making immediate changes to the website doing my best to clarify Multiplaz 3500 properties immediately, and will
clarify the usage in ventilated/no ventilated areas.
 
Sincerely,
Patricia Lewis-Hansen
Multiplaz N.A.
“
A few days ago I received the following message.

“
Hi Larry:
 
The Chairman of the company personally looked into papers involved in the university research and tells me, unfortunately, he has not been able to locate the papers.  If this should change, I will forward to you.  I do have GAZ PROM papers for pipe usage and would be happy to share these with you confidentially, should you desire.
 
As a result of your thorough evaluations, I have adjusted the description in the eco section of our website, and continue to make additional improvements as I can.
 
Thank you.
 
Best,
 
Patricia Lewis-Hansen
“

I am pleased to see the changes in the Multiplaz claims. However, my advice to you is still

Take care not to breathe the emissions from anything you weld, whether you can see a plume of smoke or not.

I am disappointed that I could not read the German report that was referred to. If, in fact, there is scientific evidence that the steam plasma does reduce the metal content or composition of the welding fumes, that would indeed be good news. It certainly is possible, if unproven at the moment. Perhaps we will find out before too long. There is evidence that the composition of the shield coating or shielding gas can significantly change the mass and composition of the fumes from some other welding processes, such as stick and MIG.

In the last few years there have also been some important discoveries about the interactions of the welding fumes (whether visible or not) with the lung that are changing many of the perspectives about what properties of the welding fume are most dangerous. At present, regulation of the allowable concentration for airborne matter is done on the basis of mass of regulated substance per unit volume of air (for example, milligrams per cubic meter). Experiments have repeatedly shown that the most important measure of reaction in the lung is not the mass of a substance, but rather the surface area. One milligram of tiny particles has much more effect than one milligram of larger particles. Thus recent studies of welding fumes include determination of the size distribution of the particles, not just the Fume Generation Rate (FGR) in terms of total mass of a substance in the fume per unit time (or per unit of metal deposited). One of the important findings of these studies is that the welding processes that produce the most visible fume (flux-core MIG and stick) have larger particulates on average (and hence are more visible) and that welding processes that produce the least visible fume (TIG and plasma) have much smaller particles on average (and hence are much less visible). However, the number of particles emitted for the same weld is similar for all of the processes, with TIG typically being the highest. The smaller particulates also tend to penetrate deeper into the lung and tend to be removed more slowly.

See, for example, http://www14.force.dk/resources/3878.pdf and
http://www.bghm.de/fileadmin/user_uploa ... gsband.pdf

Also, if you smoke, the effect of some of the substances in the fume can be as much as 10 times greater. So again I say

Take care not to breathe the emissions from anything you weld, whether you can see a plume of smoke or not.

to be continued

larry lee

LarryLee.

Tanks for the contribution.
It has sparked my curiosity concerning the understanding of the welding smoke we breath.

Alexa

Hi, it is a known fact that the majority of welding fumes comes from the materials and coatings of the object being welded.

In most cases, steel will have some foreign matter adhering to it, and this can be oily residue from the manufacturing or storing process, IE oil and/or paint based identity markings.

Most of the steel products are rolled or extruded to a form, like square steel tubing, and that means oil could be present, certainly a blue paint covering on the popular tubing used for DIY purposes.

In all cases of conventional welding, fumes will be given off, and if stick welding is used the flux certainly gives off fumes big time.

Mig and Tig of course have Argon, and flux cored Mig fumes are the same as stick electrodes.

You can weld inside an enclosed area with the Multiplaz if there are no contaminants on the weld materials, but in the case of square steel tubing the contaminants may be inside the tube.

In an enclosed space the burning process of the Multiplaz would use up the Oxygen so ventilation is highly desirable anyway.
Ian.