Materials/Additive Evaluation & Qualification

It is in the best interests of suppliers & manufacturers to show due diligence or duty of care with respect to their chosen materials. Whether your product is imported or manufactured on site it is vitally important that you are seen to be proactive in ensuring you comply with standards & guidelines. The introduction of new legislation such as REACH, makes it ever more complicated to ensure your material or products are compliant.

The materials selected for use should be evaluated & compared against data sheets & that those materials used in the manufacturer of products are of a similar standard.

This process requires the production of standard test pieces from your chosen material, this may take the form of; granules, green rubber, resins & test sheets.

The Smithers Rapra consultancy centre has the combined knowledge & experience to put together test programs tailored to our client’s individual requirements. This might take the form of a one off test program or the long term analysis of tested materials on an ongoing basis.

Smithers Rapa ’s has a wealth of experience & knowledge based on actual projects of test piece or test sheet production. Our consultants can offer good advice on what form the test materials should be in & indeed how to test them to the standards selected.

Our laboratories are UKAS accredited & carry out standard test procedures to those standards. In addition, ad-hoc tests suitable for your materials can be designed for your reassurance or to investigate suspected changes in manufacturing conditions. The testing procedure is likely to include measuring parameters such as changes in load, elongation & peel strength. Ad-hoc tests will be preceded with a rationale behind the test & validation that the tests are reproducible.