3. Reference and certified materials
3.1 The various types of reference materials
This section summarizes the important aspects of reference materials (whether certified or not) for instrument calibration and method performance studies. The fundamental difference between reference materials (RMs) and certified reference materials (CRMs) is that some parameters or substances in CRMs are known with a high degree of accuracy and are guaranteed by the producer.
There are four main types of reference material.
Pure substances or solutions: used for calibration and/or identification, or for testing part or all of an analytical procedure. These materials are characterized or certified by establishing the maximum quantity, in mass fractions, of impurities remaining...
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Reference and certified materials
Conclusions and outlook
Bibliography
References
Trade magazines
Strictly speaking, there are no specialized journals dealing solely with reference materials. Information is regularly published in the main scientific journals dealing with fundamental or applied analytical chemistry. A reference work written by the authors of this article (dealing essentially with interlaboratory tests and reference materials for environmental analysis) was published by Elsevier in 1999
Producers of reference materials
There are over 150 producers of reference materials worldwide. Information on their products can be obtained via the COMAR database available from the Laboratoire National d'Essais. It should be noted that in the absence of mandatory production quality criteria, in particular accreditation, it is difficult to assess the quality of all materials available on the market. Among the major producers are two...
Standardization
- Normes pour le management de la qualité et l'assurance de la qualité. Partie 1 : Lignes directrices pour leur sélection et utilisation. - ISO 9000-1 - 1994
- Normes pour le management de la qualité et l'assurance de la qualité. Partie 2 : Lignes directrices génériques pour l'application de l'ISO 9001, l'ISO 9002 et l'ISO 9003. - ISO 9000-2 - 1997
- Normes pour le management de la qualité et l'assurance de la...
Economic data
Material prices obviously vary according to the nature and complexity of the certified matrices. A few grams of pure materials (e.g. alloys) cost between 60 and 200 euros; the price of ampoules of materials for clinical analysis (e.g. serum, blood) can be in the same range, while matrix materials (e.g. residual sludge, sediments, etc.) can cost up to 300 euros per unit. These cost differences are obviously linked to production...
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