What harm does argon gas do to the human body

Argon is a rare gas. We rarely come into contact with this gas in our daily lives. It is an inert gas, colorless, inactive and odorless. In addition, argon itself is non-toxic. If it comes into contact with oxygen in daily work and life, it may cause certain harm. For example, if the concentration in a closed space is relatively high, it will cause hypoxia. In addition, inhaling high concentrations of argon will also cause some symptoms of poisoning.

Characteristics of Argon

Due to the properties of argon such as non-combustion, non-combustibility and low heat transfer rate, it is used in many industrial production fields. Argon is stable in nature and generally does not react chemically with any chemical substances. It is often used as various protective gases or carrier gas for gas chromatography. High-purity argon is used as the filling gas for energy-saving lamps, incandescent lamps, and fluorescent lamps. Since argon does not react chemically with the wick, but can maintain an appropriate gas pressure to delay the sublimation of the luminous substance, it can extend the service life of the lamp tube and bulb. During the brewing process, argon is used as the filling gas in the beer container to replace oxygen to prevent the ethanol in the beer from being oxidized into acetic acid and deteriorating. Using argon to replace nitrogen and ammonia during the heat treatment process makes the stainless steel bend better and less likely to break during heat treatment.

Hazard 1

Argon itself is non-toxic, but once it forms a high concentration in a relatively closed space, it will inevitably significantly reduce the proportion of oxygen in the air, causing hypoxia and suffocation. When the concentration of argon in the air is higher than 33%, there is a risk of suffocation; when the concentration of argon exceeds 50%, the human body will experience severe symptoms of hypoxia. When the concentration reaches more than 75%, it can cause death within minutes. Liquid argon absorbs a large amount of heat during the vaporization process, and can cause frostbite if it contaminates the skin and mucous membranes. In recent years, most cases of acute argon poisoning reported in domestic medical literature were caused by large-scale leakage of liquid argon due to rupture of liquid argon storage tanks, rupture of pipelines, valve failure or human operational errors. There were also reports of individual human bodies suffering from frostbite of the skin, mucous membranes and eyes.

Hazard 2

The clinical manifestations of poisoning caused by inhaling high-concentration argon gas are mainly caused by hypoxia. Although hypoxia is systemic, the human central nervous system is most sensitive to hypoxia. Mild cases will show symptoms such as headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, and vomiting. Severe cases will show symptoms such as confusion, convulsions, and even coma, and may even lead to sudden death of people on the scene. Due to the damaging effects of systemic hypoxia, patients may have symptoms of multiple organ dysfunction such as pulmonary edema, myocardial damage, liver and kidney damage, etc.

Hypoxia and asphyxiation caused by argon is the main mechanism of damage to the human body. Therefore, improving the body's hypoxic state is the most critical. At the same time, comprehensive treatment is needed to deal with various organ damage complications in a timely manner, which is an important step in successful rescue. For patients with milder conditions, they are usually given oxygen through a nasal cannula or mask, and the flow of inhaled oxygen is adjusted according to the dyspnea and oxygen saturation. In recent years, there have been case reports in domestic medical literature on the use of hyperbaric oxygen to treat argon leak asphyxia. Two patients with argon asphyxia who had impaired consciousness regained consciousness after the first hyperbaric oxygen treatment and could communicate normally with medical staff. They continued to receive hyperbaric oxygen treatment for 10 times and recovered.

Prevention is the key

To prevent the tragedy of suffocation due to lack of oxygen caused by argon gas, prevention is the key. Enterprises are the first responsible parties for production safety management, and any prevention and control measures ultimately depend on the implementation of enterprise managers. Argon is an asphyxiating gas. A closed space with argon leakage can easily cause human body to suffer from lack of oxygen and suffocation. Enterprises need to formulate emergency rescue plans for acute poisoning and safe operating procedures for working in confined spaces. When workers enter a confined space where argon gas is present, they must make preparations in advance and effectively ventilate the confined space to ensure that the oxygen content in the air reaches 18%-20%. When workers must enter a confined space with argon gas to carry out emergency response work, they need to wear effective protective equipment.