International Electrotechnical Commission

Determination of certain substances in electrotechnical products – Part 5: Cadmium, lead and chromium in polymers and electronics and cadmium and lead in metals by AAS, AFS, ICP-OES and ICP-MS - Edition 1.0
 N 62321-5

Annotation

This Part of IEC 62321 describes the test methods for lead, cadmium and chromium in polymers, metals and electronics by AAS, AFS, ICP-OES and ICP-MS.

This standard specifies the determination of the levels of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and chromium (Cr) in electrotechnical products. It covers three types of matrices: polymers/polymeric workpieces, metals and alloys and electronics.

This standard refers to the sample as the object to be processed and measured. What the sample is or how to get to the sample is defined by the entity carrying out the tests. Further guidance on obtaining representative samples from finished electronic products to be tested for levels of regulated substances may be found in IEC 62321-2. It is noted that the selection and/or determination of the sample may affect the interpretation of the test results.

This standard describes the use of four methods, namely AAS (atomic absorption spectrometry), AFS (atomic fluorescence spectrometry), ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry), and ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) as well as several procedures for preparing the sample solution from which the most appropriate method of analysis can be selected by experts.

As the hexavalent-Cr analysis is sometimes difficult to determine in polymers and electronics, this standard introduces the screening methods for chrome in polymers and electronics except from AFS. Chromium analysis provides information about the existence of hexavalent- Cr in materials. However, elemental analyses cannot selectively detect hexavalent-Cr; it determines the amount of Cr in all oxidation states in the samples. If Cr amounts exceed the hexavalent-Cr limit, testing for hexavalent-Cr should be performed.