Brian O'Connell posted: >> My employer has had several customers request empirical proof, by "spectrometer" tests that to indicate conformity to RoHS.
Two stupid questions: 1. How can surface emissions of an end-product provide a reliable chemical analysis ? (I could understand that emissions from the surface of a chassis could indicate that the coating has no "bad" stuff, but not internal to the chassis) 2. What labs can perform this mystical/magical RoHS spectrometer test ? << I suspect your customer has seen a spectrometer test mentioned and wants his product tested in that way. It isn't the only way -- and may not or even the best way of testing for toxic or prohibited substances, because in its textbook incarnation it involves heating and vaporizing the substance under test in a flame or electric arc, which at temperatures high enough to produce identifiable emissions usually disassociates organic compounds into their component elements. The optical emission from the arc or glowing vapor is passed through a grating and elemental constituents can be identified by their position in the spectrum. If there are complex organics present, they must be inferred from the proportions of elements in the spectrum to each other, determined by the relative brightness of each emission line. Myself, I'd ask for an analysis and not be picky about how it was done; at a guess, I'd say chemical analysis is probably faster, cheaper, more available, more accurate and more comprehensive. Then there's electrophoresis, where different parts of a dissolved unknown settle at different places in the column and can be identified. But don't trust me for how-to or where-to; I'm neither a chemist nor a lab tech, just someone who remembers stuff. Cortland Richmond This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
