STATISTICS ON THREE REGULATED ASBESTIFORM AMPHIBOLES LENGTH, WIDTH AND ASPECT RATION

STATISTICS ON THREE REGULATED ASBESTIFORM AMPHIBOLES: LENGTH, WIDTH AND ASPECT RATIO B LI, PhD N.C BATTA, MS, RPIH S C SU, PhD N K BATTA, PE BATTA LABORATORIES, INC SIGNIFICANT PHYSICAL PROPERTY OF ALL AMPHIBOLES: CLEAVAGE AMPHIBOLE CRYSTAL FRAGMENTS BREAK PREFERABLY ALONG CLEAVAGE PLANES BY: • Crushing • Milling • Grinding HOW BIG A ROLE CAN CLEAVAGE PLAY IN DEFINING FIBER DIMENSIONS IN TERMS OF: • LENGTH • WIDTH • ASPECT RATIO AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: • SAMPLE PREPARATION • FIBER COUNT • WEIGHT ESTIMATE MATERIAL EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN • NIST STANDARD – ANTHOPHYLLITE AND A MIXTURE OF TREMOLITE AND ACTINOLITE • USING THE MIXTURE RATHER THAN EACH OF TREMOLITE AND ACTINOLITE WAS DETERMINED BASED ON THEIR CLOSE SIMILARITY IN PHYSICAL PROPERTY AND STATISTICAL BEHAVIOR OF FIBER DIMENSIONS AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS STUDY METHOD • METHOD: INSTANT PLM PREP AND MANUAL GRINDING WITH TIME INTERVALS OF: (instant prep), 5, 15, 30, 60 AND 120 MINUTES • TIME INTERVALS (i.e 5, 15, … minutes) WERE INTENDED TO APPROXIMATE DIFFERENT SETTINGS OF MACHINE GRINDERS OR PULVERIZERS MEASUREMENT • MEASUREMENT & RECORDING: PLM (015) AND TEM (15-120) FOR LENGTH, WIDTH AND FIBER END SHAPES • ALL FRAGMENTS (INCLUDING BUNDLES) WERE NON-SELECTIVELY, BUT SEPARATELY MEASURED REGARDLESS WHETHER THEY ARE IN THE FORMS OF CLUSTERS OR MATRICES (NOT SO COMMON IN THIS PREP DUE TO PURITY) RESULTS TEM AVERAGE LENGTH PLM CHANGE THROUGH TIME 10 FIRST: HOW DO ASPECT RATIOS VARY WITH AMPHIBOLE SPECIES? 21 TEM ANTHOPHYLLITE PLM 22 TEM TREMO-ACTINOLITE PLM 23 SECOND: HOW DO THESE CHANGES AFFECT ASBESTOS COUNTS AND WEIGHT BY ANALYTICAL METHODS? 24 IMPACT ON COUNTS FOR ANTHOPHYLLITE 25 IMPACT ON COUNTS FOR TREMOACTINOLITE 26 IMPACT ON WEIGHT/MASS FOR ANTHOPHYLLITE 27 IMPACT ON WEIGHT/MASS FOR TREMO-ACTINOLITE 28 WHO MADE SUCH A “MASS”? 29 CLEAVAGE? 30 TEM CLEAVAGE BEHAVIOR EXHIBITED BY FIBER PLM ENDS SHAPES 31 What Have We Learned So Far? 32 CONCLUSION • CLEAVAGE IS AN INTRINSIC PROPERTY OF ALL AMPHIBOLES • DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IMPACTING ON LENGTH, CLEAVAGE DICTATES ASPECT RATIO BEHAVIOR DURING SAMPLE PREP • METHODS OF PREP CAN HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON FIBER COUNTS AND WEIGHT • METHOD ACCURACY IS A FUNCTION OF METHODS OF PREPARATION 33 SUGGESTED CORRECTIVE ACTIONS • • • • • ACKNOWLEDGE THE EXISTENCE OF CLEAVAGE FIBERS IN ANOTHER WORD, CLEAVAGE FIBERS ARE ASBESTOS FIBERS AS LONG AS THEY MEET THE FIBER DEFINITION VARIOUS PREPARATION METHODS HAVE TO BE EVALUATED QUANTITATIVELY USING AN APPROACH SIMILAR TO THIS STUDY FOR THEIR IMPACT ON COUNTS AND WEIGHT ESTIMATE ANALYTICAL METHODS HAVE TO BE CHOSEN BASED ON PREP METHODS FOR OPTIMAL ACCURACY CLIENTS AND THE PUBLIC HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT PREP METHODS WERE CHOSEN AND HOW THEY AFFECT THEIR RESULTS ALTHOUGH IT WAS KNOWN THAT GRINDING OR PULVERIZING WOULD HAVE IMPACT ON FIBER COUNTS OR WEIGHT ESTIMATE, UNCERTAINTY OR A CONVERSION FACTOR HAS TO BE QUANTITATIVELY DETERMINED AND REPORTED WITH THE RESULTS ACCORDING TO THE PREP METHOD ADOPTED 34 WHAT WE DO AT BATTA LABORATORIES • ASBESTOS ANALYSIS (PLM, PCM & TEM) • CHEMISTRY (ALL REGULATED METALS) • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT • INTERNSHIP PROGRAM • PUBLIC OUTREACH PROGRAM THANK YOU ALL! www.battaenv.com 35 [...]...TEM AVERAGE WIDTH PLM CHANGE THROUGH TIME 11 ASPECT RATIO DISTRIBUTION OVER TIME - ANTHOPHYLLITE 12 13 14 15 16 17 TEM CHANGE IN AVERAGE PLM ASPECT RATIO THROUGH TIME 18 ASPECT RATIO DISTRIBUTION OVER TIME FOR TREMOLITE AND ACTINOLITE IS SIMILAR TO ANTHOPHYLLITE 19 HOW DOES CHANGE IN FIBER LENGTH AND ASPECT RATIO AFFECT WEIGHT AND COUNTS? 20 FIRST: HOW DO ASPECT RATIOS VARY WITH AMPHIBOLE... OF ALL AMPHIBOLES • DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IMPACTING ON LENGTH, CLEAVAGE DICTATES ASPECT RATIO BEHAVIOR DURING SAMPLE PREP • METHODS OF PREP CAN HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON FIBER COUNTS AND WEIGHT • METHOD ACCURACY IS A FUNCTION OF METHODS OF PREPARATION 33 SUGGESTED CORRECTIVE ACTIONS • • • • • ACKNOWLEDGE THE EXISTENCE OF CLEAVAGE FIBERS IN ANOTHER WORD, CLEAVAGE FIBERS ARE ASBESTOS FIBERS AS LONG AS... 23 SECOND: HOW DO THESE CHANGES AFFECT ASBESTOS COUNTS AND WEIGHT BY ANALYTICAL METHODS? 24 IMPACT ON COUNTS FOR ANTHOPHYLLITE 25 IMPACT ON COUNTS FOR TREMOACTINOLITE 26 IMPACT ON WEIGHT/MASS FOR ANTHOPHYLLITE 27 IMPACT ON WEIGHT/MASS FOR TREMO-ACTINOLITE 28 WHO MADE SUCH A “MASS”? 29 CLEAVAGE? 30 TEM CLEAVAGE BEHAVIOR EXHIBITED BY FIBER PLM ENDS SHAPES 31 What Have We Learned So Far? 32 CONCLUSION •... FIBERS AS LONG AS THEY MEET THE FIBER DEFINITION VARIOUS PREPARATION METHODS HAVE TO BE EVALUATED QUANTITATIVELY USING AN APPROACH SIMILAR TO THIS STUDY FOR THEIR IMPACT ON COUNTS AND WEIGHT ESTIMATE ANALYTICAL METHODS HAVE TO BE CHOSEN BASED ON PREP METHODS FOR OPTIMAL ACCURACY CLIENTS AND THE PUBLIC HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT PREP METHODS WERE CHOSEN AND HOW THEY AFFECT THEIR RESULTS ALTHOUGH IT WAS... WAS KNOWN THAT GRINDING OR PULVERIZING WOULD HAVE IMPACT ON FIBER COUNTS OR WEIGHT ESTIMATE, UNCERTAINTY OR A CONVERSION FACTOR HAS TO BE QUANTITATIVELY DETERMINED AND REPORTED WITH THE RESULTS ACCORDING TO THE PREP METHOD ADOPTED 34 WHAT WE DO AT BATTA LABORATORIES • ASBESTOS ANALYSIS (PLM, PCM & TEM) • CHEMISTRY (ALL REGULATED METALS) • RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT • INTERNSHIP PROGRAM • PUBLIC OUTREACH ... LENGTH • WIDTH • ASPECT RATIO AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: • SAMPLE PREPARATION • FIBER COUNT • WEIGHT ESTIMATE MATERIAL EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN • NIST STANDARD – ANTHOPHYLLITE AND A MIXTURE OF TREMOLITE AND. .. PLM ASPECT RATIO THROUGH TIME 18 ASPECT RATIO DISTRIBUTION OVER TIME FOR TREMOLITE AND ACTINOLITE IS SIMILAR TO ANTHOPHYLLITE 19 HOW DOES CHANGE IN FIBER LENGTH AND ASPECT RATIO AFFECT WEIGHT AND. .. MEASUREMENT • MEASUREMENT & RECORDING: PLM (015) AND TEM (15-120) FOR LENGTH, WIDTH AND FIBER END SHAPES • ALL FRAGMENTS (INCLUDING BUNDLES) WERE NON-SELECTIVELY, BUT SEPARATELY MEASURED REGARDLESS