Driven by the need to provide quick turn-around of respirible crystalline silica levels in mine dust, an air sampling cyclone amenable to end-of-shift measurement was developed using 3D printer technology.  The resulting cyclone challenges the universal assumption that performance would be degraded due to 3D print surface roughness.  Surface roughness was clearly visible and easily detected by touch, but documented performance compared to the ACGIH/CEN/ISO respirable convention showed minimal bias.

There are five 3D printed parts in the cyclone:  (1) the cyclone body, (2) the vortex finder, (3) the filter holder, (4) the filter holder ring, and (5) the cassette lid.  The assembled sampler is built with these five 3D printed parts together with two custom cut gaskets and a few readily available parts:  a 3/16” hose barb, a ½” screen, a 25 mm filter element, a grit pot, several screws and hex nuts.  Once air sampling with the cyclone is finished, a direct-on-filter measurement of the quartz content is done using a portable Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer.  A comprehensive description with associated results and discussion may be found in the reference given in the Related Published Citation.

Model Details: The Fortus model 360mc 3D printer was setup to print with a 0.005-in (0.127mm) layer thickness using ABS-M30 material.