Making children's toys safer
Phthalates are plasticizers used by manufacturers to make plastics more flexible, durable and softer. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission limits their use in toys and child-care products. Happily, Agilent has developed a fast, accurate way to measure total phthalates—even in various fillers and additives.
With Agilent FTIR analyzers and exclusive calibrated methods, laboratories can rapidly screen large numbers of parts and objects for phthalate content with little or no sample preparation. In fact, thanks to the portable Agilent 4500 Series FTIR and our newly developed 4500 Polymer ID Package, you can determine the chemical composition of a polymer in seconds.
If the level of phthalates is below 0.1 percent, you know the product is safe, and there’s no need for more specific—and more expensive—testing. *
* According to Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA)
Find out more:
- App Note: Rapid and Reliable Phthalate Screening in Plastics by Portable FTIR Spectroscopy
- Webinar: Polymer Package – Phthalate Identification Demonstration
- App Note: Optimizing Analysis of Phthalates in Plastic Toys Using the Agilent 1290 Infinity Method Development Solution
- App Note: Sensitive and Reproducible Phthalate Analysis Using the Agilent 5977A Series GC/MSD
- Polymers, Plastics, and Composites in Materials Testing
- Polymers in Energy and Chemicals