Building Materials and Furnishings

Regulations

Regulations such as the European Construction Products Directive and new health-based evaluation protocols (for example; the AgBB procedure for flooring (Germany) and the Californian ‘CHPS’ program for school building/furnishing projects) increasingly require product certification testing as part of market approval/labeling (e.g. CE marking). They are also putting additional pressure on construction product manufacturers to test emissions as part of routine QA/QC. 




Reference methods

Reference methods for testing and certifying products with respect to chemical emissions typically require several days (e.g. 3, 12 or 28 days) and involve the use of small test/climate chambers or emission cells (FLEC) combined with vapour sampling (e.g. sorbent tubes or DNPH cartridges) and subsequent off-line TD-GCMS or HPLC analysis. On-line monitoring of formaldehyde is also possible. 

Example emission test method protocols include:

 

• EN/ISO 16000 series methods (formerly ENV 13419)
  
• ASTM D5196, D6330, D7143, D6196
  
• German AgBB protocol
  
• French AFSSET protocol
  
• Californian CHPS program
  
• Various voluntary product labeling schemes
  
• Various proprietary car trim tests
  

 

Cost effective screening in minutes

Such reference/certification methods are well established and widely used, however, they are too expensive and lengthy to be practical for routine QA/QC. Markes Micro-chamber / Thermal Extractor provides an ideal tool for QA/QC emissions screening in these cases; allowing manufacturers to cost-effectively check emission levels on up to 6 samples taken straight from the production line. Fast emissions screening results obtained using the µ-CTE have been shown to correlate with data from longer-term emission reference methods.

Further details regarding evaluating materials emissions from building materials can be found in the following publications or upon request. 



Thermal Desorption Technical Support literature available 

TDTS 40: Direct desorption of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds from furnishings such as leather or textiles 

TDTS 55: Using the FLEC* Cell to Determine Volatile Organic Emissions from Indoor Materials and Products
(*Field and Laboratory Emission Cell) 

TDTS 56: TD-GC-MS analysis of vapour-phase organic compounds for materials emissions testing. 

TDTS 57: Characterisation of paint samples by direct desorption TD-GC-MS 

TDTS 65: Automating the measurement of VOCs and Semi-VOCs in building materials and car trim components using direct thermal desorption 

TDTS 66: Improving the identification and measurement of trace odorous and toxic components during materials emissions testing 

TDTS 67: Using the Micro-Chamber / Thermal Extractor (µ-CTE) to automate materials emissions testing for industrial quality control 

TDTS 69: The Micro-Chamber / Thermal Extractor - the innovative, rapid and cost effective approach for testing VOC emissions from materials

TDTS 72: An Introduction to Emission Cells and Comparison to Small Chambers for Materials Emissions Testing 

TDTS 73: Summary of peer-reviewed publication: ‘A microscale device for measuring emissions from materials for indoor use’ 

TDTS 74: Summary of peer-reviewed publication: ‘Emission  cells and comparison to small chambers for materials emissions testing’ 

Materials emissions specialists from Markes International are also available to discuss your testing requirements and sampling needs. Click here to contact.

Literature References

Woolfenden E.A, Salthammer T, Wolkoff P; Emission cells and comparison to small chambers for materials emissions testing Gefahrstoffe – Reinhaltung der Luft, 65, 3, 93- 98 (2005)

Schripp T., Nachtwey B., Toelke J., Salthammer T., Uhde E., Wensing M., Bahadir M.; A microscale device for measuring emissions from materials for indoor use - Analytical Bioanalytical Chemistry, 387, 5, pp. 1907-1919 (13) (2007)


Useful Links

Fraunhofer - Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut (WKI)

Eurofins - "Micro-Chamber - an important tool for fast emission testing" (download the Eurofins PDF here)

The Belgian Building Research Institute 

UK Building Research Establishment

CERTECH