Influence of Workplace Air Circulation System on Weld Porosity and Fume of Aluminum Welding Process

A weldingWelding workplace with a good air circulationCirculation system is necessary to reduce exposure to weldingWelding fumes while supplying clean air to the welder's breathing area. The wind generated by the air circulationCirculation system could disturb the shielding gas performance in preventing hydrogen contamination, which is the main factor of porosityPorosity formation. Therefore, the wind velocity in the air circulationCirculation system affects the amount of porosityPorosity to the weldment and fume exposure to the welder simultaneously. Weldment and air quality under three weldingWelding workplace conditions; no exhaust; 1.3 m/s; and 1.7 m/s exhaust velocity observed. The amount of porosityPorosity increased with the increase of exhaust velocity. The amount of porosityPorosity within three exhaust velocity condition all met the standard requirement of acceptance. The highest fume exposure to the welder occurred under no exhaust condition. It is established that applying exhaust fan reduces fume exposure to the welder. The fume exposure became lower with the increase of exhaust velocity to 1.3 m/s and 1.7 m/s. The result indicates that proper exhaust velocity condition needed to achieve both less porosityPorosity weldment and less fume exposure to the welder.