Occupational exposure to respirable silica occurs in a variety of industries and occupations because silica occurs naturally in a wide variety of common materials and products.
Many varied ill-health effects have been linked to exposure to respirable silica. ECBH has the expertise, equipment and experience to provide the silica analysis you need to monitor the safety of your workplace and keep your staff healthy.
ECBH uses mineralogical test methods, including X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), to determine free and respirable silica. XRD provides rapid identification of minerals and reveals detailed information about the chemical composition and crystallographic structure of your samples. It is useful for identifying fine grained phases which are difficult to identify optically, by Scanning Electron Microscope/Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (SEM/EDS) or Quantitative Evaluation of Materials by Scanning Electron Microscopy.
Mining Silica Determination
Quantitative Xrd Determination of Free Silica (Alpha Quartz) – Bulk Sample
For this test, a bulk sample is analyzed and the percent free silica (as alpha quartz) is reported. The free silica content is calculated by comparing the major quartz peak intensities of the sample with that of a standard lithium fluoride (LiF) mixture.
Respirable Silica (Free Quartz) on Air Filter Cartridges
In the workplace, respirable silica is loaded onto a 25 mm, 0.5µm pore size silver membrane filter. This filter is located in an air filter cartridge in a respirator. The membrane filter is removed from the cartridge by ECBH and submitted for XRD analysis. Two major quartz diffraction peaks are measured to avoid errors due to peak overlap. The amount of quartz present is calculated by comparing the normalized peak intensities of the sample with the peak intensities of known standards. A standard calibration is measured to ensure measurement quality.
