CHARACTERISTICS OF LEAD AEROSOLS IN DIFFERENT WORK ENVIRONMENTS

Air samples were collected to examine physical and chemical characteri stics of lead aerosols in different work environments in the airborne lead concentration range from 28-783 mu g/m(3). Size distribution of a erosols was measured using a Marple personal cascade impactor,and lead analysis was conducted using graphite atomic absorption spectrometry. Lead aerosol size distribution was found to be different from that of total particles. Such differences are not negligible and must be take n into account when estimating aerosol deposition within the human res piratory tract. Variation of MMAD (mass median aerodynamic diameter) a nd GSD (geometric standard deviation) of lead aerosols in the coarse m ode with total airborne concentration was found to be small, and the a ssumption that lead aerosol distribution is constant is reasonable for establishing the relationship between airborne lead and blood lead co ncentrations. Respirable lead concentration is shown to be well correl ated with the total airborne lead concentration in all work areas of t he three plants except the charging area of the capacitor plant. There fore, it is expected that either total airborne lead or respirable air borne lead concentration can be used to correlate blood lead concentra tion.