Airborne release of hazardous micron-sized metallic/metal oxide particles during thermal degradation of polycarbonate surfaces contaminated by particles: Towards a phenomenological description

Francois Xavier Ouf (1) , Thomas Gelain (2) , Mickael Patry (3) , François Salm (3)

1 IRSN/PSN-RES/SCA/LPMA - Laboratoire de physique et de métrologie des aérosols
2 IRSN/PSN-RES/SCA/LEMAC - Laboratoire d'expérimentations et de modélisation en aérodispersion et confinement
3 IRSN/PSN-RES/SCA - Service du Confinement et de l'Aérodispersion des polluants

Experimental results are reported on the resuspension of particles deposited on polycarbonate (PC) samples representative of glove boxes used in the nuclear industry, under thermal degradation. A parametric study on the influence of particles deposit properties, i.e. equivalent volume diameter, density, morphology and number of mono-layers, was carried out. Significant influence of equivalent volume diameter and density has been identified associated to a peak of release for diameter close to 6 µm and decreasing airborne release fraction (ARF) with increasing density. Furthermore, particle deposit structure has been identified as a major influencing parameter, ARF strongly decreasing for number of mono-layer increasing up to nearly 0.3 and remaining constant above this threshold. Finally, experimental results obtained in the present study have been compared with literature values for proposing a phenomenological description of the airborne release of particles from PC surfaces subjected to thermal degradation.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Francois Xavier Ouf, Thomas Gelain, Mickael Patry, François Salm. Airborne release of hazardous micron-sized metallic/metal oxide particles during thermal degradation of polycarbonate surfaces contaminated by particles: Towards a phenomenological description. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2020, 384, pp.121490. ⟨10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121490⟩. ⟨hal-02444482⟩