Solvents for Shutters, PART 1

[P3D Bill Davis <bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is a big one, in two parts, a table of Physical Properties and
Exposure Limits and a listing of Acute Health Effects.

SOLVENTS FOR SHUTTERS

Part 1:

After a recent thread on Solvents for Shutter cleaning, I looked up the
physical characteristics and short term exposure data of 11 different
common solvents.  References were United States Dept. of Defense Hazardous
Materials Information System, a database of 150,000 product Material Safety
Data Sheets, US TSCA Registry and US OSHA Chemical Safety Data.  Your own
government may have differing regulations and exposure limits.  

Someone who works with solvents every day may have more current and precise
information.  If so, I welcome any revisions, revelations or revilations
you may feel appropriate.  

I did not include data for long-term repeated exposure. 

The information presented is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed.  

Mostly I tried to include information that would help one choose between
evaporative solvent-type cleaners for an occassional camera shutter and
moving parts cleaning, not a marathon "let's clean every camera in the
collection" session.  

Some of the materials may not even be available where you live.  

All of these materials will evaporate completely, although at differing
rates (see below).  All of them can affect you through inhalation of vapors
or through absorption through the skin.   

The items I covered are as follows (definitions are author's
approximatations.  If you want the specific definition, e-mail me and I'll
tell you where to look it up. :--) :

OSHA PEL:  This is the legal airborne Permissible  Exposure Limit, in parts
per million, averaged over an eight hour shift, as established by the US
Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

STEL: The American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)
recommended Short Term Exposure Limit (15 minutes).

(Note that these are airborne limits only. When skin contact also occurs,
you may be overexposed, even though air levels are less than the limits
shown.)

Evaporation Rate (E.R.): This is relative to the evaporation rate of a
standard, butyl acetate.  On this scale, distilled water has an E.R. of
0.33.  A higher number indicates more rapid evaporation, meaning you're
increasing the exposure level (and possibly approaching exposure limits) at
a more rapid rate.    

Vapor Density (V.D.): Air =1  The higher numbers indicate the vapors will
tend to collect and travel along the floor.

Flash Point (F.P.):  Essentially, how easy the material is to ignite.
These numbers are in degrees Centigrade, and ranged from . The lower the
number, the more flammable the material is.  The numbers ranged from >48
deg. to a low of -32 deg.

LC/LD50:  Expressed as a function of body weight, in grams per kilogram.
This is the Lethal Concentration/Lethal Dose which has been shown to kill
50% of the rats it was administered to.



                 OSHA PEL      STEL      E.R.   V.D.  F.P.  LC/LD50


ACETONE          1000PPM      750PPM      6     2.0   -20   5.8G/KG

MEK               200PPM      300PPM     5.6    2.5  -9.0   3.3G/KG

TOLUENE           200PPM      150PPM     2.0    3.14  4.4   5G/KG

XYLENE            100PPM      150PPM     0.1    3.6    27   UNK

FREON 113        1000PPM     1250PPM     >1     6.5   >48   UNK

LANTERN FUEL 1
(petroleum 
hydrocarbons)     100PPM      100PPM(EST) 2.7   3.4   -32   UNK

LANTERN FUEL 2
(HEXANE)          500PPM       50PPM     9.0     3    -23   UNK

ETHANOL          1000PPM     1000PPM     1.9      1     14   7.1G/KG

ISOPROPANOL       400PPM      500PPM     1.7    2.1     12   5.8G/KG	

1,1,1 TRICHLOR-
OETHANE           350PPM      450PPM  

VM&P NAPHTHA      300PPM      400PPM     1.5             13

BENZENE             1PPM        5PPM   CARCINOGEN!!  DON'T USE IT!!

End part 1.  Part 2 to follow. 









Best regards,
Bill Davis
mailto:bd3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Still searching for the "Any" key so I can strike it and continue. 


------------------------------