Estimating rock and slag wool fiber dissolution rate from composition.
A method was tested for calculating the dissolution rate constant in the lung for a wide variety of synthetic vitreous silicate fibers from the oxide composition in weight percent. It is based upon expressing the logarithm of the dissolution rate as a linear function of the composition and using a different set of coefficients for different types of fibers. The method was applied to 29 fiber compositions including rock and slag fibers as well as refractory ceramic and special-purpose, thin E-glass fibers and borosilicate glass fibers for which in vivo measurements have been carried out. These fibers had dissolution rates that ranged over a factor of about 400, and the calculated dissolution rates agreed with the in vivo values typically within a factor of 4. The method presented here is similar to one developed previously for borosilicate glass fibers that was accurate to a factor of 1.25. The present coefficients work over a much broader range of composition than the borosilicate ones but with less accuracy. The dissolution rate constant of a fiber may be used to estimate whether disease would occur in animal inhalation or intraperitoneal injection studies of that fiber.
Eastes
W
W
Owens-Corning, Science and Technology Center, 2790 Columbus Road, Route 16, Granville, OH 43023-1200, USA. walter.eastes@owenscorning.com
Potter
R M
RM
Hadley
J G
JG
D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000032:analysis; D005898:Glass / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D012995:Solubility
D005290:Ferric Compounds; C009753:fiberglass; C000499:ferric oxide; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D000537:Aluminum Oxide