Potential Health Hazards of Additive Manufacturing

In recent years, additive manufacturing has begun to penetrate not only into a number of industrial enterprises, but also into households. 3D printers are becoming more affordable and appear on the market in a variety of designs that use a variety of principles and feedstock materials. However, this advanced technology brings not only a unique manufacturing potential but also a number of hazards for its users as well as for their surroundings and the environment. Unfortunately, these hazards are often unsuspected and can easily be underestimated or neglected. The aim of this article is therefore to map available additive technologies, to point out the hazards involved and their possible consequences and to suggest possible ways of avoiding or mitigating these hazards as much as possible. The article describes processes connected with the greatest hazards in metal additive manufacturing, which is the most dangerous in terms of the number and nature of the hazards involved.