swept away from the test specimen in the flow of air. The
air/vapor exit (exhaust) point is usually located centrally,
immediately above the test specimen surface, to avoid unswept
volumes and sink effects (see 7.6 and Appendix X2). The
exhaust air is fully mixed such that air sampled at the exit point
is representative of the air in the cell. Approximately 80 % of
the flow of air into the cell is pumped onto two sample tubes.
The excess air is allowed to exhaust through an overflow vent
to ensure that a slight positive pressure is maintained inside the
cell to prevent ingress of background air.
4.3 The air flow rate is set such that the air velocity over the
surface of the test specimen has no effect on the area specific
emission rate (see 6.4). The emission tests are carried out at
fixed times after preparation of the test specimen (for example,
after 2 h, 24 h, 72 h, 10 days, 28 days, 56 days, or 182 days (26
weeks)). Throughout the entire test period, test pieces shall
either be kept under the emission cell under the flow of pure,
humidified air, or stored in a clean, well-ventilated
environment, under controlled conditions of temperature and
humidity, with no risk of contamination from other samples or
other emission sources.
NOTE 5—The air flow rate at the surface of the test specimen is
particularly critical for wet indoor materials/products where the primary
emission process is evaporation (external diffusion). In these cases, while
it will remain possible to compare emission data from wet samples
collected using similar emission cells under identical conditions, the
non-uniformity and relative slowness of the air velocity at the surface of
the test specimen, will make it difficult to compare emission cell data with
that obtained using an emission chamber (see Appendix X4).
NOTE 6—Similar limitations make it difficult to compare emission data
from two different small chambers or from the same chamber under
different operating conditions, if that data is obtained during the drying/
curing stages of a wet product.
4.4 The sample tubes used for collecting VOCs are analyzed
by thermal desorption: gas chromatography (GC); usually with
mass spectrometry (MS) and flame ionization detection (FID)
to identify and quantify the target volatile organic compounds
as described in Practice D6196, ISO 16000-6 or ISO 16017-1.
The measured masses of volatile organic compounds retained
by the sorbent tubes are then used to determine the area specific
emission rates of the material or product. Alternative sampling
and analytical techniques are used for formaldehyde (and for
other carbonyls) as described in Test Method D5197.
5. Significance and Use
5.1 Indoor materials/products are products or materials used
for construction works or in the indoor environment. The area
specific emission rates of volatile organic compounds from an
indoor material/product may be used to estimate the expected
contribution of emissions from that material/product to the
atmosphere of a given indoor environment.
5.2 Emission data may also be used to compare and catego-
rize different indoor materials/products of similar function.
5.3 Emission cell testing of area specific emissions may
alternatively be used for studying secondary interactions (for
example, sink effects (absorption and re-emission of volatile
organics by the indoor material/product) or emissions gener-
ated by chemical degradation of the indoor material/product
caused by specific atmospheric agents such as water, ozone or
NO
x
).
6. Principles
6.1 General Principles:
6.1.1 Area specific emission rates at a given lapsed time (t)
are calculated from the masses of target volatile organic
compounds collected on the sample tubes, the flow of air
pumped through each sample tube, the total flow of air entering
the emission cell, the duration of the test and the exposed
surface area of the test specimen. Area specific emission rates
at a given lapsed time (t) can also be expressed as a function of
the emission cell air concentrations for each VOC and the area
specific air flow rate, q.
6.1.2 Air velocity at the surface of the test specimen
(Appendix X3 and Appendix X4) is a critical parameter for the
analysis of wet-applied indoor materials/products during the
drying/curing stage when the dominant emission mechanism is
evaporation (external diffusion) (see 6.4).
6.2 Using Emission Data to Estimate Contribution to Atmo-
spheric VOC Concentration Indoors:
6.2.1 Provided the area specific air flow rate over the surface
of the test specimen is similar to that found in the built
environment, and provided the surface of the indoor material/
product is sufficiently homogeneous to ensure that the area of
the test specimen exposed in the emission cell is representative
of the whole; area specific emission rates determined by these
tests can be used to estimate the likely contribution to
atmospheric VOC concentrations from that indoor material/
product in real use, at time (t) after installation/application
(assuming similar nominal conditions of temperature and
humidity).
6.3 Intercomparison of Emission Data:
6.3.1 Provided the test conditions are duplicated, area spe-
cific emission rate data generated from these tests may be used
for comparison with area specific emission rate data produced
for the same or similar products by other laboratories using
similar emission cells.
NOTE 7—The principles described in 6.2 and 6.3 are true for all
applicable product types, whatever the dominant process of emission.
6.4 Effect of the Emission Mechanism on Test Data and
Comparison of Test Data:
6.4.1 Provided the dominant emission mechanism is (inter-
nal) diffusion, not evaporation (external diffusion), area spe-
cific emission rate data will be broadly independent of air
velocity over the surface of the indoor material/product. This
will remain true provided the surface air velocity exceeds the
minimum velocity required to prevent build up of vapor-phase
contaminants at the surface of the indoor material/product (see
Appendix X4).
6.4.2 Provided the dominant emission mechanism from a
material/product is internal diffusion, it is possible to compare
area specific emission rates generated from emission cells
under different air flow conditions or to compare area specific
emission rate data generated by emission cells with that
obtained using test chambers (Guide D5116 or ISO 16000-9)
(see Appendix X4).
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