1. Scope
1.1This practice applies to newly manufactured flooring products before they are used in construction. It is applicable only to products that can be tested whole or by representative sample in small-scale environmental chambers ranging in volume from 0.05 to 0.1 m3. 1.2This practice describes procedures associated with the measurement of the area specific emission rates (i.e., emission factors) of individual volatile organic compounds (VOC) including aldehydes from laboratory prepared specimens of flooring products such as carpet, carpet cushion, resilient flooring, laminate flooring, wood flooring and flooring adhesives. 1.3This practice covers product sample collection, handling and documentation at a manufacturing facility and laboratory procedures from receipt of product samples through the calculation of VOC emission factors and reporting. The intervening steps including the preparation of test specimens for the different product types, the conditioning of test specimens if required, and the small-scale chamber testing of specimens for their emissions of VOCs under controlled, defined conditions are described. Also described is the collection of air samples from the chamber. The sampling media and the instrumental analyses of these samples for VOCs and aldehydes are included by reference to other methods and practices. 1.4This practice is not capable of determining emission factors for all organic compounds emitted by carpet and other flooring products. See the applicable methods and practices for limitations inherent in these procedures. 1.5This practice does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this practice to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
1) The carpet industry would like to see standardization of the methodology as to how emissions from flooring product samples are collected and analyzed and there is currently no public standard that they can refer to. 2) Variations in the sampling methodology may be contributing to the variance in results observed by industry. Standarization of the sampling and analysis should help minimize the variance in the emissions results.
Keywords
sample collection; air sampling; conditioning; emission factors
The title and scope are in draft form and are under development within this ASTM Committee.
Citing ASTM Standards
[Back to Top]
