Certified Reference Materials are a lab essential
for any spectroscopy experiment. They are necessary for all laboratory
experiments that involve instrument qualification for laboratory or analytical
uses. These certified reference materials are also necessary for performance
evaluation of any laboratory equipment. High quality certified reference
materials become a pre-requisite for laboratory applications, as the accuracy
and precision of all experiments and test results performed with these devices
is directly tied to the quality of the material being used as reference.
Benefits of Certified Reference Materials in the
UV/VIS to Mid-IR spectrum
High quality certified reference materials are
constructed with great importance to precision, so they conform to all the
industrial standards and requirements. The manufacturing is performed under
highly monitored and controlled conditions. They are further calibrated with
perfect precision, so they meet all the necessary standards and norms.
International regulatory bodies like the National Meteorological Institutes set
the regulatory standards to determine the quality of these materials and
determine the testing they should be subjected to.
The universally recognized standard for laboratory
accreditation of spectrophotometer reference materials is set by the NIST and
known as the ISO/IEC 17025. Their list of criteria are closely linked to both
fundamental physical standards and international primary standards. A Certified
Reference Material should ideally satisfy all these criteria to be deemed fit
for use.
Uses of Certified Reference Materials
One of the main uses of CRM's is in instrument
qualification kits. The standardised setup is used to determine the accuracy
and calibrate a spectrophotometer for higher precision operation. These are
used in measurements of wavelength, photometric accuracy, wavelength
calibration and instrument resolution or bandwidth.
Apart from solid references, liquid reference
materials should also undergo extensive testing. These references are sealed in
their cells with innovative manufacturing processes that eliminate chances of
evaporation or change in stability. Thus they can be efficiently and safely
handled for laboratory applications.
Hellma Certified Reference Materials are
accompanied by extensive documentation that supports their scope of use. This
also includes details of their test conditions and how they operate in
practical situations. Calibration laboratories also issue timely retesting
requirements, which the device should ideally be subjected to. The reference
material will have to be shipped to the testing laboratory where it will be
subjected to testing once again, and the laboratory will certify whether it is
fit for continued use. This is a task that takes no more than a week and will
ensure the quality of the material continues to be high.
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