RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FERROMAGNETIC PARTICLES AND AIRBORNE CHRYSOTILE FIBRES IN THE ASBESTOS MINES AND MILLS OF QUEBEC

Examination of Chrysotile Asbestos from the Eastern Townships of Quebec using optical and electron microscopic methods has shown that Chrysotile fibres are intimately associated with minute particles of magnetite.;Measurement of the magnetic content of specimens of autopsied lung tissue from asbestos exposed workers indicated that the residual estimated fibre content measured by electron microscopy was less than estimated using magnetic field measurements. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI.;Measurements were made using a fluxgate magnetometer of the remnant magnetic fields of bulk commercial fibres and of airborne total dust and of the respirable fraction of airborne dust collected in Quebec asbestos mines and mills using a Hexhlet horizontal eleutriator. The validity of the Hexhlet horizontal eleutriator for respirable fibre collection in the mill environment was determined. It was observed that the remnant magnetic field intensities of airborne dust in laboratory generated dust clouds, and in the work places were related in a meaningful way to the magnetite content of the dust and to the total mass and respirable mass fractions of airborne dust, and also, to the concentrations of fibre greater than 5 micrometre length (aspect ratio > 3:1) measured using phase contrast microscopy. Calibration curves were developed for each of 9 Quebec mills. Repeat calibrations showed the lines to be reproducible within (+OR-) 10 percent. The accuracy of the method for mass dust determination was dependent on sample size with errors as low as (+OR-) 7.5 percent for samples larger than 3 milligrams, and as large as (+OR-) 40 percent for samples of mass smaller than 0.5 milligrams. The relationships between fibre concentrations and remnant magnetic fields were less reproducible and the lower detection limit was limited by the sensitivity of the fluxgate magnetometer. Although the measured remnant magnetic field varied as the magnetite content varied between different mills and commercial fibre products, magnetite to chrysotile ratio remained constant for a given mill and commercial product. Measurements of the remnant magnetic fields of airborne dusts collected in mill environments can thus provide the possibility of the rapid determination of airborne chrysotile fibre concentrations both in terms of mass and number of fibres per litre of air sampled as well as their iron content.