Sponsored by the American Welding Society and the Welding Research Council Chemical Analysis of Welding Fume Particles

Welding fume contains elements that, in their pure forms, can be hazardous to worker health if inhaled or ingested. Therefore, the chemical composition of welding fume must be examined when considering fume toxicity. Various chemical analysis techniques are presented and their applicability to airborne particles is described. Knowledge of particle size is important because a given characterization technique only provides accurate data for a specific size range. For the purpose of comparison and illustration, this paper uses several characterization techniques to analyze the chemistry of mild steel welding fume. X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that mild steel gas metal arc welding (GMAW) fume is predominantly magnetite while the mild steel shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) fume contains both a mixed alkali fluoride phase and a Fe-Mn oxide spinel phase. Energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) was found to be an effective technique for evaluating the elemental composition of welding fume, and the results of the elemental analyses of a few welding fumes are reported.