ASTM International

Standard Guide for Small-Scale Environmental Chamber Determinations of Organic Emissions from Indoor Materials/Products
 N D5116

Annotation

This guide provides guidance on determination of emissions of organic compounds from indoor materials and products using small-scale environmental test chambers.

This guide pertains to chambers that fully enclose a material specimen to be tested and does not address other emission chamber designs such as emission cells (see instead Practice D 7143).

As an ASTM standard, this guide describes options, but does not recommend specific courses of action. This guide is not a standard test method and must not be construed as such.

The use of small environmental test chambers to characterize the organic emissions of indoor materials and products is still evolving. Modifications and variations in equipment, testing procedures, and data analysis are made as the work in the area progresses. For several indoor materials, more detailed ASTM standards for emissions testing have now been developed. Where more detailed ASTM standard practices or methods exist, they supersede this guide and should be used in its place. Until the interested parties agree upon standard testing protocols, differences in approach will occur. This guide will continue to provide assistance by describing equipment and techniques suitable for determining organic emissions from indoor materials. Specific examples are provided to illustrate existing approaches; these examples are not intended to inhibit alternative approaches or techniques that will produce equivalent or superior results.

Small chambers have obvious limitations. Normally, only samples of larger materials (for example, carpet) are tested. Small chambers are not applicable for testing complete assemblages (for example, furniture). Small chambers are also inappropriate for testing combustion devices (for example, kerosene heaters) or activities (for example, use of aerosol spray products). For some products, small chamber testing may provide only a portion of the emission profile of interest. For example, the rate of emissions from the application of high solvent materials (for example, paints and waxes) via brushing, spraying, rolling, etc. are generally higher than the rate during the drying process. Small chamber testing can not be used to evaluate the application phase of the coating process. Large (or full-scale) chambers may be more appropriate for many of these applications. For guidance on full-scale chamber testing of emissions from indoor materials refer to Practice D 6670.