Guide to Understanding Your Testing Lab
Paper covers test methods specific to the various global eco-compliance directives as well as the different instrumentation used for these types of analyses.
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Authored By:
Jim Cronin
Product Ecology Manager
Environmental Monitoring and Technologies, Inc. (EMT)
Morton Grove, IL USA
Summary
Within today's Consumer Electronics Industry, a laboratory report listing elemental content is standard protocol. Understanding the information listed within a lab report can be difficult and understanding how that information was obtained is not common knowledge.
Do you know what the Laboratory sample preparation techniques are? Is the Laboratory using the correct test methods?
Does the Laboratory have the proper certifications? How interactive are you with the Laboratory?
Understanding the answers to these questions is imperative to showing compliance to the various global eco-compliance directives and OEM "Green Programs" such as EU RoHS, China RoHS, REACH, Halogen Free, etc.
This paper will provide insight into laboratory protocols and practices. It will provide information on the appropriate certifications a testing laboratory should have. It will also try to make clear how to interpret the information on "lab report" and explain terminology such as:
•MDLs
•PQLs
•Units of measure (mg/kg, ppm, etc.)
•LCS and LCS recoveries
•QC protocols
•Flags
•N.D. vs <
The paper will also discuss test methods specific to the various global eco-compliance directives as well as the different instrumentation used for these types of analyses.
Lastly, this paper will discuss the importance of building a "partnership" between the laboratory and the Client. Due to the diverse array of sample matrices as well as the various manufacturing procedures within the consumer electronics industry, the need of a synergy between the Laboratory and the Client is a very important component of a company's compliance strategy. It will also explain why sample preparation is more important than the actual testing of a sample and provide some examples of "issues" that are inherent to material testing.
The premise of this paper is to give a brief overview of laboratory protocols and practices, provide some answers to questions that you have and that we have been hearing, provide terminology/acronyms and their definitions, try to explain how to interpret the information on a "lab report", and try to increase your knowledge of what a Laboratory can provide. The topics we will cover are Accreditations, Acronyms/Terminology/Definitions, Lab Reports, Methods/Instrumentation, Sample Preparation, and criteria to consider when choosing a lab.
Conclusions
Understanding a lab report and what a testing lab can provide is not common knowledge. Choosing an appropriate testing lab is a daunting task given all the different criteria's that can enter into your decision process. Hopefully the information offered in this paper will assist in expanding your knowledge on the capabilities of testing labs as well as provide insight into laboratory protocols and practices.
Initially Published in the IPC Proceedings
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