International comparison of the determination of the mass fraction of cadmium, chromium, mercury and lead in polypropylene: the Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière pilot study CCQM-P106

Atomic spectrometry update–X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

“…The application of the XRF technique within the framework of Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste of Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulation is a recurrent issue in this yearly review. Ma et al 395 presented the results of an international comparison study for the determination of the mass fraction of Cd, Cr, Hg and Pb in polypropylene using a broad range of analytical techniques (IDMS, ICP-MS, ICP-OES, INAA and also XRF). The median values of Cd, Cr, Hg and Pb, calculated from the results of 21 laboratories, were 26.1 AE 0.5 mg kg À1 , 253 AE 3 mg kg À1 , 387 AE 10 mg kg À1 and 466 AE 9 mg kg À1 , respectively.…”

Development of plastic certified reference materials (CRMs) to cope with restrictions on hazardous substances

“…Half length of each bar indicates the expanded uncertainty (the coverage factor is 2 for almost all cases). [18] matter of fact this pilot study was considered equivalent to a key comparison). Three requirements from (1) to (3) were fulfilled, CMC registration to the BIPM KCDB was made, and CMCs for heavy metal analysis in plastics were registered.…”

“…The results are published in an international journal. [18] An example of the results is shown in Fig. 4.…”

Certification of Standard Reference Material 2859 and Standard Reference Material 2861 restricted elements in polyvinyl chloride

“…This approach has been applied to PVC with, for example, powder-form inorganic and organometallic compounds [6,7], PVC with powder form oxides [8], and polycarbonate with powder form inorganic compounds [9]. In one case for polypropylene [10], NIST analyses by micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (microXRF) identified localized regions of the inorganic compounds. Small regions of HgS were discovered to be volatile under X-irradiation.…”