_GOTOBOTTOM
Modeling in General: Health and Safety
Have a question about what is safe or an experience that might warn others?
Hazardous Resin?
tapto
Visit this Community
Stockholm, Sweden
Member Since: September 04, 2004
entire network: 6 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Posted: Monday, October 18, 2004 - 06:15 AM UTC
Hi all,
I'm a quite new member and I find this site amazing with all great resources and fantastic contributing people.

Often when discussing Resin, the resin dust is treated as really bad for your lungs. Now (and maybe here's where I go wrong) I thought that standard 'epoxy' like the kind you use when fixing boats (not the bad smelling polyester kind) in scale 1:1 is pretty much the same as Resin. When fully cured it is supposedly not more hazardous than any other 'dust'.

However, not fully cured, it one of the worst allergenic substances normal people is likely to come across.

Question no 1
Is there a chemical difference between the epoxy and resin?

Question no 2
Anyone knows what is actually in Milliput? It says Epoxy putty... and strangly enough I find myself fiddling around with that whitout protective latex gloves whilst I'd never do that when trying to fix my 28ft motorboat with a nice new epoxy 'improvement'

TIA

/Fredrik
IanSadler
Visit this Community
United Kingdom
Member Since: December 22, 2002
entire network: 324 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Posted: Monday, October 18, 2004 - 06:22 AM UTC
Hias an ex health and safety rep . this is what i know . resin is dangerous in two forms , When mixing the gases given of are cancer forming over long period of exposure . After it has cured the dust is also harmful to the lung as it cannot be cought up and stays put blocking the veery tiny airways again over long period it can cause cancer . Lastly one point not often talked about but if the dust or flakes of resinget into your eye . then X rays are of no help and I have a friend who lost his eye because of this .
As usual always were good quality mask and goggles anf gloves at all stages of use . You can also become alergic to long term exposure of the actual liquids etc cheers ian
tapto
Visit this Community
Stockholm, Sweden
Member Since: September 04, 2004
entire network: 6 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Posted: Monday, October 18, 2004 - 06:41 AM UTC
Thanks Ian,

That makes perfect sense. I'd better stop by the pharmacy an pick up a box of non-powdered gloves before I move back into scratch building what hopefully will be a '37 Web pattern waterbottle 1:16.

Cheers
/Fredrik
ptruhe
Visit this Community
Texas, United States
Member Since: March 05, 2003
entire network: 2,092 Posts
KitMaker Network: 438 Posts
Posted: Monday, October 18, 2004 - 07:19 AM UTC
Most putties have toluene as an ingredient. It's fumes are harmful and long term exposure should be limited.

Paul
Silantra
Visit this Community
Putrajaya, Malaysia
Member Since: March 04, 2004
entire network: 2,511 Posts
KitMaker Network: 1,296 Posts
Posted: Monday, October 18, 2004 - 12:26 PM UTC
well, there're thousand of sunstances and type in each epoxy or resin compound. Just be sure to get the correct data in the MSDS. Sometimes manufacturer only list the active ingridients but often forgot to mention the impurities (or other materials/substances) .... sometimes these impurities or minority have hazard associated with them. Just be carefull...use proper PPE.

something that i got from web search:


Resin is a secretion formed in special resin canals or passages of plants, from many of which, such as, for example, coniferous trees, it is exuded in soft drops, hardening into solid masses in the air. Otherwise it may be obtained by making incisions in the bark or wood of the secreting plant. It can also be extracted from almost all plants by treatment of the tissue with alcohol.

Plants produce resins for various reasons whose relative importances are debated. It is known that resins heal the plant's wounds, kill insects and fungi, and allow the plant to eliminate excess acetates.

Certain resins are obtained in a fossilized condition, amber being the most notable instance of this class; African copal and the kauri gum of New Zealand are also procured in a semi-fossil condition. The resins which are obtained as natural exudations are in general mixtures of different, peculiar acids, named the resin acids, which dissolve in alkalis to form resin soaps, from which the resin acids are regenerated by treatment with acids. They are closely related to the terpenes, with which they occur in plants and of which they are oxidation products. Examples of resin acids are abietic (sylvic) acid, C20H30O2, occurring in colophony, and pimaric acid, C20H35O2, a constituent of gallipot resin. Abietic acid can be extracted from colophony by means of hot alcohol; it crystallizes in leaflets, and on oxidation yields trimellitic acid, isophthalic acid and terebic acid. Pimaric acid closely resembles abietic acid into which it passes when distilled in a vacuum; it has been supposed to consist of three isomers.

Resins when soft are known as oleo-resins, and when containing benzoic acid or cinnamic acid they are called balsams. Other resinous products are in their natural condition mixed with gum or mucilaginous substances and known as gum resins.

The general conception of a resin is a noncrystalline body, insoluble in water, mostly soluble in alcohol, essential oils, ether and hot fatty oils, softening and melting under the influence of heat, not capable of sublimation, and burning with a bright but smoky flame. A typical resin is a transparent or translucent mass, with a vitreous fracture and a faintly yellow or brown colour, non-odorous or having only a slight turpentine odor and taste. Many compound resins, however, from their admixture with essential oils, have distinct and characteristic odours.

The hard transparent resins, such as the copals, dammars, mastic and sandarach, are principally used for varnishes and cement, while the softer odoriferous oleo-resins (frankincense, turpentine, copaiba) and gum resins containing essential oils (ammoniacum, asafoetida, gamboge, myrrh, and scammony) are more largely used for therapeutic purposes and incense. Amber is a fossil resin.
Synthetic resin
Synthetic resins are according to DIN 55958 (December 1988) epoxy resins, which are manufactured through polymerization—polyaddition or polycondensation reactions. They can be modified by natural substances, e.g. vegetable or animal oils and/or natural resins, or be manufactured by veresterung or soaping of natural resins.



Epoxy or polyepoxide is an epoxide polymer that cures when mixed with a catalyzing agent or "hardener". The material was developed by I.G. Farben Industrie of Germany in 1939, and is used for coatings, adhesives and composite materials like glass-reinforced plastic.


Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin"

Plasticbattle
#003
Visit this Community
Donegal, Ireland
Member Since: May 14, 2002
entire network: 9,763 Posts
KitMaker Network: 1,351 Posts
Posted: Monday, October 18, 2004 - 09:59 PM UTC

Quoted Text

You can also become alergic to long term exposure of the actual liquids etc


Hi Fredrick. Have you read the thread on IPMS Stockholm lately about allergies coming after excessive use? Worth reading and taking that little bit of extra care. I never both with gloves either for milliput. Somehow it seems harmless???? But I do wear a mask when sanding resin or even excessive sanding on plastic. All dust is harmfull after prolonged use!
 _GOTOTOP