Discolouration and odour

In the laboratory we assess odour by dismantling the product into its component materials. The odour of each material is assessed on receipt and also after overnight storage at an elevated temperature in a sealed container. This will characterise the odour with respect to whether it is acceptable or not from a consumer’s point of view.

SATRA’s laboratory incorporates gas chromatography with mass spectrometry to identify VOCs and houses steady state chambers.

Discolouration can be caused by chemicals and also poor resistance to light. SATRA can test materials for light fastness using test method SATRA TM160 in which samples are exposed to an intense artificial light generated by a Xenon arc lamp.

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