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Title:
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Development of horizontally standardized leaching tests for construction materials: a material based or release based approach? : Identical leaching mechanisms for different materials
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Author(s):
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Published by:
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Publication date:
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ECN
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1-6-2004
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ECN report number:
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Document type:
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ECN-C--04-060
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ECN publication
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Number of pages:
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Full text:
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56
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Download PDF
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Abstract:
Currently,in the framework of the development of the Construction Products
Directive (CPD),harmonized tests have to be selected or developed for
the measurement and risk assessment of "dangerous substances"that may
be released from building materials.It is generally recognized that
the environmental risks associated with the use of materials for construction
purposes is primarily the potential
release of contaminants
from the material into the environment,due to contact with water ("leaching").
There is a wide range of existing release-based tests that attempt to
simulate individual field conditions for each specific material,instead
of focusing on the common underlying mechanisms that control the release.Such
test methods are typically "conditional",which means that the results
of these tests cannot be compared to each other,which makes interpretation
and regulation very inefficient.
This report comprises a first evaluation if the number of leaching tests
can be reduced to a testing framework based on common leaching mechanisms,which
allows quantification ofrelease from different construction products
under different exposure conditions.The basic assumption is that the
number of release controlling processes is limited and similar for a
range of (construction)products.
Data and knowledge from previous EU projects and from literature indicate
that the dominant factors can be identified and quantified in a limited
number of test methods,suitable to answer questions of both regulators
and producers,for a wide range of (construction)products and a wide
range of application scenarios.A hierarchy in testing is suitable to
distinguish the more detailed characterization tests from the simple
compliance tests for every-day practice. Aspects such as test reproducibility
and bandwidth are addressed,as well as the use of test data for environmental
impact assessment.
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