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Environmental legislation and the XRF solution
The European Union (EU) has introduced new directives on electrical and electronic equipment in relation to its composition and the levels to which it should be recycled. Companies have an obligation to comply and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) has emerged as an ideal technique for the required elemental analysis.
The Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive restricts the use of six hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive prevents waste by encouraging reuse and recycling. These hazardous substances have already been banned from cars (End of Life Vehicles directives) and from packaging materials (Packaging directives) since the nineties.
July 2006 implementation
As of 1 July 2006, new electrical and electronic products that contain more than the agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium (or chromium VI), polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants are banned from the EU. A wide range of goods is affected, from computers and telecommunications equipment, to domestic appliances and electronic tools, toys and automatic dispensers.
These measures impact manufacturers who wish to sell within or from the EU. Similar directives are being introduced in other parts of the world. In the US for example, the California Electronic Waste Recycling Act SB20 is already in force and both China and Japan are expected to implement local equivalents to RoHS around the same time as the EU.
Meeting the challenge with XRF
Manufacturers are required to monitor their production processes and ensure that their products comply with RoHS, WEEE, ELV and packaging directives. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy has emerged as an optimal solution for elemental analysis of heavy metals in a wide variety of materials, including plastics, polymers, metals, brass, solder and wire.
In contrast with other analytical techniques, XRF benefits from simple, essentially hazard-free, sample preparation. Metals and plastics can often be measured directly, without any pre-treatment. Where sample preparation is necessary, as with PWBs (printed wiring boards) for example, PANalytical offers a choice of grinding, milling and pressing systems together with full application support to provide a complete solution.
XRF performs non-destructive, multi-element analysis. A single measurement program can be used to calibrate a system for all applicable elements. The technique copes with the complex matrices found with typical samples, ensuring straightforward, linear calibration performance.
Solutions for effective screening and accurate monitoring
PANalytical XRF systems and reference standards enable industry to meet the new challenges of RoHS, WEEE, ELV and packaging directives.
MiniPal 4 RoHS WEEE: the latest in the PANalytical line of compact, benchtop EDXRF spectrometers, is capable of analyzing samples for the presence of the restricted elements and determination of compliance.
Epsilon 5: for complete quantitative elemental analysis down to sub-ppm levels, the Epsilon 5 polarized EDXRF spectrometer offers the ultimate solution. This system is specifically designed for the analysis of heavy metals and thus supports the analysis requirements of the directives, for example the analysis of Cd and Pb in brass.
Axios: PANalytical's range of industry-tailored Axios WDXRF systems can be used for a variety of applications, including analysis to prove compliancy with WEEE, RoHS, ELV and packaging directives.
TOXEL: this set of reference materials, developed in cooperation with DSM Resolve, further optimizes XRF analysis for toxic heavy elements in polyethylene. They are already proving to be a valuable tool helping plastics and polymer manufacturers meet the directives.
