Effect of heat on the identification of asbestos by x-ray diffraction

Our plain-English summary of Effect of heat on the identification of asbestos by x-ray diffraction, by C. Plowman (Nature, 1973).

The study

• Author: C. Plowman
• Journal: Nature
• Published: 1973;244(5414):280
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This short laboratory report looked at whether heating changes how two amphibole asbestos minerals, amosite and crocidolite, appear in X-ray diffraction, a technique used to identify asbestos in thermal insulation. The author explained that the two must be told apart because crocidolite has been shown to carry a greater health hazard, and the Asbestos Regulations (1969) require stricter precautions when insulation containing crocidolite is removed. In a study of power station insulation, many samples had been above 400 degrees C for thousands of hours, and this heating had affected their diffraction patterns. The author heated standard UICC samples of both minerals in air at 400, 500, 600 and 700 degrees C, for 65 hours at each temperature. The spacings of the main identification peaks changed, and the relative peak intensities changed slightly. The author concluded that care is needed in telling the two minerals apart after heating, especially when using the (310) peak, the one most often used for identification. The author suggested using several peaks when the heating history of insulation is in doubt.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: laboratory experiment (short report): mineral samples were heated in air and held at each temperature for 65 hours, then examined by X-ray diffraction
• Who was studied: Standard asbestos samples of amosite and crocidolite from the International Union Against Cancer (UICC); prompted by insulation samples from power stations examined by the author's employer, the Central Electricity Generating Board
• Exposure: Heating of amosite and crocidolite in air at 400, 500, 600 and 700 degrees C, for 65 hours at each temperature
• Main results:
  • In power station thermal insulation that had been above 400 degrees C for thousands of hours, the prolonged heating had affected the diffraction patterns
  • Heating changed the d spacings of the principal identification peaks of both amosite and crocidolite (reported in Tables 1 and 2)
  • Some slight changes in the relative intensities of the peaks were also observed
  • The author reported that care must be taken when distinguishing the two forms of asbestos after they may have been heated, particularly when the (310) reflexion is used, this being the reflexion most often used for identification
• The authors' conclusion: The author suggested that several peaks should be used for identification where there is doubt about the conditions the insulation may have been subjected to.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: X-Ray Diffraction (XRD).

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• Determination of low levels of free fibres of chrysotile in contaminated soils by X-ray diffraction and FTIR spectroscopy — E. Foresti, M. Gazzano, et al. (2003)

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