The international database for certified reference materials

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COMAR Central Secretariat

AUTUMN SEMINAR 2003 Finland

The international database for

certified reference materials

Thomas Steiger

Rita Pradel

Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM)

Germany

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Use of CRMs

Certified reference materials:

• are measurement benchmarks

• ensure reliability and comparability • provide traceability in chemical analysis

• are required in quality assurance (ISO 17025)

One main problem for users:

• How to find the proper CRM needed?

Ways out:

• catalogues of producers • websites of producers • COMAR database

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COMAR Central Secretariat

Main topics

• What is COMAR ?

- a short overview and history

• Information about CRM in COMAR

•

How to get access to COMAR ?

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Examples for searching by

- CRM name or description - country or producer

- physical property

- conventional property - field of application

- composition of elements or molecules

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What is COMAR?

COMAR has been developed to assist users in finding

the reference materials they need

Software and performance

• Oracle 8.1 database, internet interface PHP 4.0

• Browser independent (Microsoft, Netscape, Opera)

• CRM information language is English

• Navigation language can be multilingual

• Update rights are given to the national or

international coding centres

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History

• French Laboratoire National d' Essais (LNE) proposed an

index Code of Reference Materials in the late 1970s

CO

de

MA

teriaux

R

eference -->

COMAR

• COMAR was improved and established in the mid 80s by

LNE (France), LGC (United Kingdom) and BAM (Germany)

- not free of charge

- floppy disks were updated and distributed once a year

• Today COMAR is supported by 16 national or international

coding centres

- free of charge for users since March 2003

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COMAR

coding centres

AGAL/NARL Australia

NCM

Bulgaria

BAM

Germany NIST

USA

BIS

India NITE

Japan

CANMET Canada NMi

The

Netherlands

GUM

Poland

NRC-CRM China

IRMM

European Union

SMU

Slovakia

LGC

United Kingdom

SP

Sweden

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COMAR Central Secretariat

Statistics September 2003

10452 CRMs from 248 producers in 25 countries

Australia

Germany

South Africa

Austria

India

Spain

Brazil

Japan

Sweden

Bulgaria

Mexico

Switzerland

Canada

Mongolia

The Netherlands

China

Poland

Ukraine

Finland

Russia-Federation

United Kingdom

France

Slovakia

United States

European and international institutions:

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Distribution of CRM by fields of

application - September 2003

Ferrous

13%

Inorganic

10%

Organic

5%

Biological

3%

Industrial

18%

Quality of life

11%

Non ferrous

25%

Physical

properties

15%

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COMAR Central Secretariat

Contained CRM information

Producer complete address of the producer Additional information (purchase, experts, QMS) (pdf files, if available)

CRM name e.g. BAM-376

Description e.g. pure copper, Cu 99,5 Application description e.g. intended use

Packaging / storage e.g. 40 g bottle; storage at -20 °C

Form of material e.g. disc

Chemical composition

Elements e.g. Ag 163.0 µg/g

Molecules (CAS-No.) e.g. alpha-HCH (319-84-6) 32.0 µg/kg

Physical/conventional properties

Physical properties (ISO-No.) e.g. Activity / 9-33 4 - 400 kBq Conventional properties e.g. Flash point /ISO 1516 10.3 - 9.8 °C

Data files certificate, report, references (if available)

Quality CRM, RM, setting-up sample, pharmacopoeia

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Login screen

http://www.comar.bam.de/home

click button "Sign Up"

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Search by CRM name

% = wildcard

click button "Apply Filter" to start the search

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CRM search by description

e.g. soil and sediment

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CRM search by description

type „soil“ in the field

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CRM search by description

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CRM search by description

Boolean operators: A = and N = not O = or

note: in the first line A and O = and

button "Apply Filter" to start the search

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Search by country or producer

mark country and producer and click button "Apply Filter" to open the catalogues

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Search by country or producer

e.g. Germany

select the country

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Search by country or producer

click button "+" select the producer

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Search by physical property

e.g. dynamic viscosity ISO No. 3.23 [30-70Pa.s]

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limit the search by the criteria minimum and maximum value

Search by physical property

e.g. dynamic viscosity ISO No. 3.23 [30-70Pa.s]

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Search by physical property

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Search by fields of application

e.g. quality of life / foodstuffs

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Search by fields of application

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Search by fields of application

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Search by fields of application

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Search by Fields of Application

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Search by composition / element

e.g. oxygen and nitrogen in steel

select "O" from the catalogue

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Search by composition / element

click button "+" select "N" from the catalogue

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Search by composition / element

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Search by composition / element

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mark "Molecule / CAS_No."

Search by composition /

molecule name

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Search by composition /

molecule name

e.g. alpha-HCH and beta-HCH

type "HCH" and click button "+"

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Search by composition /

molecule name

e.g. alpha-HCH and beta-HCH

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Search by composition /

molecule name

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Search by composition / CAS_No.

e.g. p,p’-DDE CAS 72-55-9

mark "Molecule / CAS-No." type the CAS_No. click button "Apply Filter"

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Search by composition / CAS_No.

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Search by composition / CAS_No.

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Search by composition / CAS_No.

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Amount of CRM

Country 31.10.2003 Australia 4 Austria 93 Brazil 61 Bulgaria 212 Canada 377 China 1008

European Union (IRMM) 714

Finland 3 France 1188 Germany 888 India 59 Japan 870 Mexico 27 Mongolia 17 Poland 76 Russian Federation 708 Slovakia 233 South Africa 59 Spain 14 Sweden 253 Switzerland 253 The Netherlands 81 UK 2265 Ukraine 12

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Development of user accounts

date

number of users

2003-03-17

52

2003-04-22

104

2003-06-12

301

2003-07-31

441

2003-08-29

539

2003-09-30

747

2003-10-31

756

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User's origin

further users of unknown origin (e.g.: .com, .org)

Argentina

Estonia

Korea

South Korea

Australia

Finland

Latvia

Slovakia

Austria

France

Luxemburg

Slovenia

Belgium

Germany

Malaysia

Spain

Brazil

Greece

Mexico

Sweden

Bulgaria

Guatemala

Mongolia

Switzerland

Canada

Hong Kong

Netherlands

Taiwan

Chile

India

New Zealand

Turkey

China

Ireland

Norway

UK

Cuba

Israel

Poland

Ukraine

Czechia

Italy

Portugal

USA

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Access and search

date

COMAR login and search

approx. number of access

17.03. - 30.04.2003

COMAR login

374

17.03. - 30.04.2003

viewed search results

1468

01.05. - 30.06.2003

COMAR login

642

01.05. - 30.06.2003

1570

01.07. - 31.08.2003

COMAR login

600

01.07. - 31.08.2003

1878

01.09. - 31.10.2003

COMAR login

808

01.09. - 31.10.2003

2665

17.03 - 31.10.2003

COMAR login

2424

17.03 - 31.10.2003

7581

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You are kindly invited to visit and use COMAR !

http://www.comar.bam.de