Abstract
The purpose of this effort was to propose important aerosol characterization parameters that should be gathered as part of a nanomaterial hazard assessment and to offer a methodology for applying that data to daily operations. This study documents different ways of characterizing nanoscale materials using an aerosol from a process simulation consisting of a vacuum cleaner motor operating inside an enclosure. The aerosol is composed of insoluble carbon particles plus environmental background constituents. The average air concentration is 2.76E+5 p/cm3. Size
measurements of the aerosol indicate > 70% of the particulate is blade-like in shape, 50% of which have a height dimension ≤ 100 nm. In terms of an equivalent spherical diameter 0.8% of the particulate is ≤ 100 nm in size. The carbon blades are characterized as having a root-mean-square roughness of 75 nm, and average fractal dimension of 2.25. These measures: aerosol chemistry, solubility, shape and size, surface area, number concentration and size distribution are important
parameters to collect for current exposure assessment and toxicology and epidemiology studies.