Abstract
An infrared technique for the determination of quartz in respirable granite dusts is described which has been used in a survey of the granite industry to obtain with reasonable confidence a general picture of the quartz dust concentrations to which workers are exposed. The procedure is simple and can be carried out by technicians. In our laboratory we have been processing 30 to 35 samples per day, with about an additional ⅓ day required for scanning the KBr pellets. Pellets are mounted and may be permanently retained. Sample calculation is simple and can be readily adapted for machine calculation or computer. By this method of analysis, it should be possible to establish a TLV based on milligrams of respsrable quartz per cubic meter or air, either in place of or in addition to the presently accepted TLV.