Volatile organic compounds from building products-Results from six round robin tests with emission test chambers conducted between 2008 and 2018.

Emission testing of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from materials and products is commonly based on emission test chamber measurements. To ensure the comparability of results from different testing laboratories, their measurement performance must be verified. For this purpose, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) organizes an international proficiency test (round robin test, RRT) every two years using well-characterized test materials (one sealant, one furniture board, and four times a lacquer) with defined VOC emissions. The materials fulfilled the requirements of homogeneity, reproducibility, and stability. Altogether, 36 VOCs were included of which 33 gave test chamber air concentrations between 13 and 83 µg/m3 . This is the typical concentration range to be expected and to be quantified when performing chamber tests. Three compounds had higher concentrations between 326 and 1105 µg/m3 . In this paper, the relative standard deviations (RSD) of BAM round robin tests since 2008 are compared and the improvement of the comparability of the emission chamber testing is shown by the decrease of the mean RSD down to 28% in 2018. In contrast, the first large European interlaboratory comparison in 1999 showed a mean RSD of 51%.

Two-photon fabrication of hydrogel microstructures for excitation and immobilization of cells.

We investigate in vitro fabrication of hydrogel microstructures by two photon laser lithography for single cell immobilization and excitation. Fluorescent yeast cells are embedded in water containing the hydrogel precursor mixtures and cross-linking is used to selectively immobilize a particular cell. Cell viability within the hydrogel precursor is estimated using a life/dead assay and elastic and stiff hydrogel structures are fabricated, immobilizing cells in a microfluidic environment. Additionally, we demonstrate the illumination of cells by on-the-fly fabricated hydrogel waveguide networks connected to an external light source, thereby exciting a fluorescence signal in a single immobilized cell.

Development of a multi-VOC reference material for quality assurance in materials emission testing.

Emission test chamber measurement is necessary to proof building materials as sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The results of such measurements are used to evaluate materials and label them according to their potential to emit harmful substances, polluting indoor air. If only labelled materials were installed indoors, this would improve indoor air quality and prevent negative impacts on human health. Because of the complex testing procedure, reference materials for the quality assurance are mandatory. Currently, there is a lack of such materials because most building products show a broad variation of emissions even within one batch. A previous study indicates lacquers, mixed with volatile organic pollutants, as reproducible emission source for a wide range of substances. In the present study, the curing of the lacquer-VOC mixture inside micro-chambers was optimised. Therefore, the humidity and the chamber flow were varied. Typical indoor air pollutants with a wide range of volatilities, for example, styrene, n-hexadecane, dimethyl and dibutyl phthalate were selected. It turned out that, under optimised curing parameters inside the micro-chamber, their emission can be reproduced with variations of less than 10 %. With this, a next important step towards a reference material for emission testing was achieved.

Electro-optical tunable waveguide embedded multiscan Bragg gratings in lithium niobate by direct femtosecond laser writing.

optical tunable Bragg gratings in lithium niobate fabricated by direct femtosecond laser writing. The hybrid design that consists of a circular type-II waveguide and a multiscan type-I Bragg grating exhibits low loss ordinary and extraordinary polarized guiding as well as narrowband reflections in the c-band of optical communications. High bandwidth tunability of more than a peak width and nearly preserved electro-optic coefficients of r(13) = 7.59 pm V(-1) and r(33) = 23.21 pm V(-1) are demonstrated.

Natural Building Materials for Interior Fitting and Refurbishment-What about Indoor Emissions?

Indoor air quality can be adversely affected by emissions from building materials, consequently having a negative impact on human health and well-being. In this study, more than 30 natural building materials (earth dry boards and plasters, bio-based insulation materials, and boards made of wood, flax, reed, straw, etc.) used for interior works were investigated as to their emissions of (semi-)volatile organic compounds ((S)VOC), formaldehyde, and radon. The study focused on the emissions from complete wall build-ups as they can be used for internal partition walls and the internal insulation of external walls. Test chambers were designed, allowing the compounds to release only from the surface of the material facing indoors under testing parameters that were chosen to simulate model room conditions. The emission test results were evaluated using the AgBB evaluation scheme, a procedure for the health-related evaluation of construction products and currently applied for the approval of specific groups of building materials in Germany. Seventeen out of 19 sample build-ups tested in this study would have passed this scheme since they generally proved to be low-emitting and although the combined emissions of multiple materials were tested, 50% of the measurements could be terminated before half of the total testing time.

Investigations on the emissions of biocides and PCBs under low volume conditions.

The aim of this study was the development of a low volume air sampling strategy for biocides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) at low air change rates in modern, air-tight showcases as they are present in museums. Lindane, pentachlorophenol, dichlofluanid, tolyfluanid, isodrin, p,p-dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane and permethrin were the biocides and PCB28 and PCB153 were the PCBs studied, all of which are semi volatile organic compounds (SVOC). Their occurrences in the museum environment originate from various sources e.g. preventive treatment of organic exhibits or organic building materials. Exhibits are long-term exposed to these pollutants due to storing in showcases or other storage equipment at low air change rates. To achieve air sampling under the aforementioned conditions the influences of temperature, air circulation, air change rate and relative humidity on the emission behavior of the selected biocides and PCBs had to be determined. This was carried out with pre-soaked wood samples in low volume air sampling experiments using 27L test showcases and 23L and 24L emission test chambers and also diffusive sampling with glass as the sampling material.

Emission of biocides from treated materials: test procedures for water and air.

Methods for the determination of biocide emissions from treated materials into water and air were developed and tested in order to support a comparative ecological assessment of biocidal products. Leaching tests, experiments with simulated rain, extraction cleaning of carpets and emission chamber tests were performed with a series of treated materials. The experiments focused on the effect of changes in the procedure as well as characteristics of the specimens and demonstrate the suitability of the proposed methods for biocides of different product types. It was demonstrated that emissions of biocides into water can be compared on the basis of leaching tests in which the emission kinetics of the active ingredients are recorded. However, the water volume per surface area and the timetable for water changes have to be defined in such tests. Functions of flux rates related to time can be well described for inorganic compounds, whereas modelling of the data is more complicated for organic substances. Emission chamber tests using 20-litre and 23-litre glass exsiccators, originally developed to study volatile organic compounds, were successfully adapted for the investigation of the emission of biocides from treated materials which are usually semi volatile organic compounds. However test parameters and the method of analysis have to be adapted to the substances to be determined. Generally, it was found that the emission curves for the semi volatile organic compounds investigated differ from those of volatile organic compounds.

Development of a material with reproducible emission of selected volatile organic compounds - µ-Chamber study.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found indoors have the potential to affect human health. Typical sources include building materials, furnishings, cleaning agents, etc. To address this risk, chemical emission testing is used to assess the potential of different materials to pollute indoor air. One objective of the European Joint Research Project "MACPoll" (Metrology for Chemical Pollutants in Air) aims at developing and testing a reference material for the quality control of the emission testing procedure. Furthermore, it would enable comparison of measurement results between test laboratories. The heterogeneity of the majority of materials makes it difficult to find a suitable reference sample. In the present study, styrene, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, N-methyl-α-pyrrolidone, lindane, n-hexadecane, 1,2-dimethyl- and 1,2-di-n-butyl-phthalate were added to 12 commercially available lacquers (6 alkyd and 6 acrylic polymer based lacquers) serving as carrier substrate. After homogenization, the mixtures were loaded into a Markes Micro-Chamber/Thermal Extractor (µ-CTE™) for curing and investigation of the emission behavior for each compound. For almost all of the investigated chemicals, the preferred glossy acrylic lacquer showed emissions that were reproducible with a variation of less than 20% RSD. Such lacquer systems have therefore been shown to be good candidates for use as reference materials in inter-laboratory studies.