How 3D Printers May Put People at Risk for a Stroke

Three-dimensional printers emit nanoparticles that could be hazardous to a person's health, a study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment reports.

Though used in commercial manufacturing for decades, small-scale 3D printers were only recently introduced for home and office use, leading to a whirlwind of inventions and products including everything from guns to sex toys.

Based on this increased popularity, researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology decided to conduct an examination of the ultrafine particles (UFP) released by the machine, reporting that inhaling high amounts of UFPs have been linked to asthma, cardiorespiratory illnesses and even strokes.

To do this, they placed nine 3D printers in a room where they printed small, plastic frogs over various time periods. They then measured the concentration of UFPs and used this number to estimate the UFP emission rates from a single printer.

In the end, the team came to the conclusion that the range included 20 billion particles per minute from printers using a lower temperature polyactic acid (PLA) feedstock, or printer fuel, to roughly 200 billion particles per minute for those using the higher temperature acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) feedstock.

These rates, the scientists point out, mean 3D printers fall into the category of "high emitters" based on criteria laid out in a 2007 study analyzing office printers, according to Medical News Today. Furthermore, they note that differences in emission rates the PLA and ABS printers may also be compounded with differences in levels of toxicity due to their differing feedstocks.

Either way, the researchers argue that those using the devices should do so with a degree of wariness.

"Because most of these devices are currently sold as standalone devices without any exhaust ventilation or filtration accessories, results herein suggest caution should be used when operating in inadequately ventilated or unfiltered indoor environments," they write.

Far from serving as the last word, the study instead lays the ground work for future examinations, the scientists add, calling in their study for more experiments "to more fundamentally evaluate particle emissions from a wider arrange of desktop 3D printers."