Quality Control
LMS? Issue 6 | 2013?
35
Quality Control at its Best
E
nvironmental Resource Associates
(ERA), a Waters company, is a
provider of certified reference materials
(CRMs), proficiency testing (PT) and
quality control products for analytical
labs. They maintain a comprehensive list
of globally recognised accreditations to
ensure that customers incorporate internationally recognised PTs and CRMs into
their quality programmes. ERA standards
with certified values and acceptance limits
are derived from two million data points,
allowing one to assess the consistency
of results. These standards are used in
Analysing
Surface
Energy
T
he Surface Energ y A na lyser
(SEA) system is for studying
surface energetics, map surfaces for
energy heterogeneity, measure heats of
sorption, study adsorption isotherms,
phase transitions and diffusion kinetics.
The SEA, from SMS, is a secondgeneration instrument based on the
principles of inverse gas chromatography developed in their first inverse gas
chromatograph (IGC), 10 years ago. It
is a purpose-designed unit. Unlike the
original IGC, it is not built around an offthe-shelf GC, hence it is more compact,
versatile and easier to use. The basic
principle is to allow selected vapours to
flow across solid samples in a closed tube
and detect changes with an FID.
SEA comes with facilities for up to 12
solvent vapours, a temperature range from
15-150°C, a variable volume injection, a ???F????F???f???66W76?'??B?V?F?G??*?6??*?G&???B?6???2V7??F?f????@???vW"6?7@?6??V?????Bv????66WBGv??6??V??2@???6R?*)????v?'6?66?V?F?f?0?FVà?p??C?.( c?#?3?n( ?#??3?s?????C?3c^( #c?b?3 ( s3?V??à?v?'6?$v?'6??6???V?f?&???V?F??f??B???GW7G&????fR66?V?6W2?B?&?6WWF?6??&?&F?&?W2??V?f?&???V?F??&?&F?&?W2?fP?'F?W&VBv?F?U$F?7G&V?wF?V??F?V?"V?G?77W&?6R&?w&??W2??v?F???v??V?G?B7F?F&G2?F?V? ?7F?F&G2?BBFFF???2&?f?FP?67W&FR?BFVfV?6?&?RFF?F?W??6???ffW"??&RF??#V??VR7W7F??7F?F&G2F?B6?fW"&?vR?b??FW0??B6??6V?G&F???2f?"?&?&F?&?W2??F?W?&?f?FR7F?F&G2f?"&?vR?`??VVG2???6?VF??r6?'&F???2?&?f?6?V?7???FW7F??r??G&??7??W2???V&?G????B?@?7?7FV?7V?F&??G???6W'F?f?VB&VfW&V?6R7F?F&G2&Rf??&?Rf?"F?F??&v??26&&???6??GV7F?f?G???GW&&?F?G??BvFW"&?WFW'2f?"?fP?66?V?6W2?B?&?6WWF?6???Vf7GW&W'2?U$?ffW'2??R?b5$?2?&VvV?G0??Bf??2v?F??4?wV?FR3B?Bs#P?67&VF?FF????TDD (J"????w2??RF??&W?'BB7GVG?FF?f?Wr&V???'??&W7V?G2?G&6???7F?&?6?W&f?&??6R?@??FV?F?g???'GV??F?W2F???&?fR&?6VGW&W2???????R?*)?????7&?6W ?6??F7C????V?2f??W?77FVV??FVâ ??SS>( #3 ?V??à???V?2?f??W?77FVV??7&?6W?6?????