Certified reference materials

A reference material is a substance or object with one or more defined (known) properties for use as a measure or benchmark or measurement methods. Reference materials can be solids, liquids or gases of all kinds.

Reference materials are indispensable for chemical analysis and material testing, and for quality control.

Many materials testing and most of the chemical analyzes are comparative measurements, not absolute measurements. In this case, the instrument only provides a relative signal which must be referenced to a known value (calibration, calibration). Reference materials are required for this relation.

Characterization

The quality of reference materials is important for the accuracy and comparability of analytical results. For a detailed analysis of the relevant properties of the materials should vary only slightly. For reference materials for chemical analysis, the composition and the uniformity is very important, and the traceability of these sizes. Defined reference materials are therefore produced by public authorities or internationally recognized institutions and are called " certified reference materials ". The preparation and characterization is regulated by numerous guidelines and is subject to strict tests. For each of the materials certified by the manufacturer, a certificate is included, with details of the described features, its fluctuation and testing.

Manufacturer

In Germany, the development of certified reference materials is an object of the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM ) in Berlin.

At European level, there is for the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM ) in Geel (Belgium ).

In the U.S., reference materials are developed and offered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST).