Could 3D Printing at Home Be Detrimental to Health?

Since the early 2000s, when the RepRap movement took off, 3D printing has gained commercial success worldwide. Though of course much of the market is dedicated to industrial additive marketing, cheaper desktop 3D printers designed for hobbyists have also grown in popularity, especially since COVID-19. In 2022 the global desktop 3D printing market size was estimated to be worth $3.96B according to Grand View Research. And is only expected to grow rapidly in coming years, especially in countries like China, where cheap 3D printer manufacturers with solutions designed for home users are widespread. But is it actually good for users’ health to be 3D printing at home? Researchers at Dublin City University say maybe not.

These findings come from a recent study titled “Characterization of Volatile and Particulate Emmissions from Desktop 3D Printers” which was published by Melissa Finnegan, Collen Lee Thach, Shirin Khaki, Emma Markey, David J. O’Conner, Alan F. Smeaton and Aoife Morrin. These researchers were interested in indoor air pollution and emissions released indoors, given that we do spend the majority of our lives inside our homes. A part of this was looking into the emissions that consumer devices like 3D printers were releasing into that environment.

A schematic of the 3D printer with the VOC sampling and the sampling ports, which together was used to collect the particle samples (image credits: Finnegan M, Thach CL, Khaki S, Markey E, O’Connor DJ, Smeaton AF, Morrin A 2023)

Exploring the Impact of 3D Printing on User Health

To do this, the researchers decided to look into the emissions while 3D printing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulates, as concerns regarding health and safety for both have arisen in recent years. Notably, they took a look at the safety aspects of 3D printing PLA and ABS filaments, meaning they only studied FDM 3D printers. This was done by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to profile VOC emissions and attaching a particle analyzer (WIBS) to the printer to quantify and characterize particulate emissions.