Safety in chemistry and materials technologies
Issue no. 1 of 10. February 2010
Safety in chemistry and materials technologies
Issue no. 1 of 10. February 2010
BAM enlarges its area on the campus of one of Germany’s largest science and technology centres (WISTA). The foundation stone for the new laboratory and pilot plant building will be placed in Adlershof on 11 March. In the new building, to be completed by the end of 2011, scientists will be undertaking research in the fields of chemistry and environmental protection.
As a public builder, the government sponsors the art in architecture. A public bid by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning addressed the students. The first price for the design of the south façade went to Ulrike Barwanietz and Piero Glina. The jury praised the concept’s inner relationship to BAM: their design visualizes materials research and displays three-dimensional models of a crystalline structure in a two-dimensional arrangement. The appearance of the building varies depending on the viewer’s position due to light refractions, reflexes, overlays and colour gradients.
Contact:
Dr. rer. nat. Ulrike Rockland, Spokeswoman
BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing
Phone: +49 30 8104-1003, email: presse@bam.de
2010 RAM Conference Flyer
BAM, together with the editors of Gefahr/gut (Dangerous goods) of Springer Transport Media GmbH, will organize the 2nd RAM Container Safety Conference (RAM = radioactive materials) on 18 and 19 March 2010.
Current developments of safety engineering test methods, evaluation criteria for approval and expert assessment of transport and intermediate and final storage containers for radioactive substances will be presented and discussed at the conference. BAM and invited speakers will report on development and implementation of safety engineering verification methods in view of available and new types of containers and discuss quality assurance for container construction and operation.
A visit to BAM’s test equipment and laboratories (impact test stand, materials testing equipment) will be held on the second day.
Manufacturers and users of containers, representatives of supervisory and approval bodies at Federal and State level and testing and expert organizations will have the opportunity to obtain information at first hand about these issues, to deepen their knowledge and discuss current issues.
Information on the conference (Flyer, PDF - only in German)
Contact:
Dr.-Ing. Bernhard Droste
Department III Containment Systems for Dangerous Goods, Division III.3 Safety of Transport Containers
Phone: +49 30 8104-1330, email: bernhard.droste@bam.de
Dr.-Ing. Holger Völzke
Department III Containment Systems for Dangerous Goods, Division III.4 Safety of Storage Containers
Phone: +49 30 8104-1340, email: holger.voelzke@bam.de
Reaction calorimeter
BAM is due to organize the DECHEMA further education course ’Safety of Chemical Reactions‘ together with the Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry of the University of Hamburg from 22 to 24 March 2010.
An important objective of the chemical industry is the safe operation of their processes and equipment. For this purpose knowledge of the dangerous characteristics of substances, mixes and reactions is a pre-requisite. The used and produced substances must be characterized and evaluated from a safety point of view. Their safety assessment includes both proper operation and any deviations from it. Only from the sum total of these views can suitable preventive safety concepts be established. This course covers the key topics which are relevant for the safety assessment of reactive substances and chemical reactions.
Above all chemists and engineers from the chemical industry, and in particular from the fields of fine, speciality and polymer chemistry, as well as national and inspection institutions have been invited. People, who work in pilot plants and facilities or are concerned with the design and permission of systems, are particularly addressed.
Information about the event (Flyer, PDF - only in German)
Contact:
Dr. rer. nat. Klaus-Dieter Wehrstedt
Department II Chemical Safety Engineering, Division II.2 Reactive Substances and Systems
Phone: +49 30 8104-1220, fax: +49 30 8104-1227, email: klaus-dieter.wehrstedt@bam.de
The test manual will be available as a pdf file in the German language at www.bam.de from March 2010.
The UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, Manual of Tests and Criteria, 5th revised edition was published in the English language in 2009. Due to the amendments and supplements agreed at the United Nations and the request of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS), BAM is working on the German translation of the latest edition of the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria.
Contact:
Dr. rer. nat. Klaus-Dieter Wehrstedt
Department II Chemical Safety Engineering, Division II.2 Reactive Substances and Systems
Phone: +49 30 8104-1220, fax: +49 30 8104-1227, email: klaus-dieter.wehrstedt@bam.de
'Prozess-Sensors 2015+' roadmap
The innovative race started last November with the publication of the updated 'Process Sensors 2015+' roadmap. It is freely accessible at www.namur.de or www.vdi.de/gma/prozess-sensoren2015.
The approximately 70-page document contains a list of requirements for a number of sensors and sensor systems for process analysis which do not yet exist, but are urgently needed. The compilation provides a user-friendly basis for product development and research projects. Thus the competition has been launched to implement these requirements.
The prelude for the new edition came from representatives of the NAMUR and the VDI/VDE-Society for Measurement and Automatic Control. Experts of leading users and manufacturers of process sensor technology from BASF, Bayer Technology Services, Bayer Industry Services and ABB, Endress+Hauser and Siemens make up the project team headed by BAM.
The competitive ability of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry is based on guaranteeing the required product quality with the optimum use of equipment, raw materials and energy. Good and safe process control using reliable process automation guarantees an advantage in global competition.
Contact:
Dr. rer. nat. Michael Maiwald
Department I Analytical Chemistry; Reference Materials, Division I.4 Process Analytical Technology
Phone: +49 30 8104-1140, email: michael.maiwald@bam.de
Dr.-Ing. Werner Daum
Department VIII Non-destructive Testing, Division VIII.1 Measurement and Testing Technology; Sensors
Phone: +49 30 8104-1910, email: werner.daum@bam.de
Damage values calculated for a component
An increasing number of modern cars have an exhaust gas turbocharger, in diesel engines it is already the norm. Engine performance is increased by an exhaust gas turbocharger. The materials used on the hot exhaust gas side of the turbocharger are exposed to high mechanical and thermal stress. Low-cycle thermal-mechanical fatigue stresses occur, superimposed by creep stresses and high-cycle fatigue stresses. Mathematical models are needed in order to be able to predict the service life of exhaust gas turbochargers or other hot parts in the exhaust gas.
Division V.2 Mechanical Behaviour of Materials researched how the design of such components can be improved in a project financed by the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF). Two representative cast iron materials were experimentally characterized for their mechanical and physical properties. Simultaneously, mathematical models were developed to describe the deformation and service life behaviour of the materials. The service life model yields the same service lives obtained experimentally on sample bodies. The model is also capable of predicting the service life of real components which were verified by tests on a component test bed.
The relevant computer programs were made available to the industrial partners involved and they proved suitable under industrial conditions. They provide results which were previously not possible using other methods.
Contact:
Dr.-Ing. B. Skrotzki
Department V Materials Engineering, Division V.2 Mechanical Behaviour of Materials
Phone: +49 30 8104-1520, email: birgit.skrotzki@bam.de
Mould-infested bread
Mycotoxins are natural contaminants, occurring in food and feeds, and are formed by mould fungi, partly for their self-preservation. They are chemically very heterogeneous and the more than 400 compounds have various physico-chemical characteristics. The consumption of contaminated agricultural products represents a potential danger to health for humans and animals because some mycotoxins have carcinogenic or nerve-damaging (neurotoxic) effects, they may cause deformations (teratogenic) or suppress the normal function of the immune system (immune-suppression). Farm animals may consume moulded feed and pass on the poisons into products such as milk and eggs (carry over effect).
The European Union has already specified limiting values for 11 mycotoxins. BAM’s interest is now focussed above all on the ergot alkaloids (e.g. in crops) and Alternaria toxins (e.g. in fruit and vegetables). BAM is currently developing analysis methods for multimycotoxin determination, which is the identification of conjugates and transformation products, and is working on establishing specific reference materials.
Due to the structural variety of the compounds it is not possible to establish one standard technique, so many analysis methods are necessary to manage the challenge. For quantitative trace analysis, high performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence or mass spectrometric detection creates the backbone of mycotoxin analysis. In co-operation with external partners, the Working Group Analysis of Food and Commodities emphasises the mycotoxin problem and contributes to food safety by providing certified reference materials and effective analysis methods.
Contact:
Dr. rer. nat. Robert Köppen
Department II Chemical Safety Engineering, Division I.2 Organic Chemical Analysis; Reference Materials
Phone: +49 30 8104-5596, email: robert.koeppen@bam.de
BAM Newsletter No 1/2010
Submission deadline: 29 January 2010
Publication, including excerpts, is free.
Figures will be provided on request.
Manuscripts to be sent to:
Press Office
BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing
Unter den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 8104-0, fax: +49 30 8104-3037, email: presse@bam.de
http://www.bam.de
Responsible: Dr. Ulrike Rockland (spokeswoman)
Phone: +49 30 8104-1003, email: ulrike.rockland@bam.de
Editorial management and layout: Daniela Samol
Phone: +49 30 8104-3056, email: daniela.samol@bam.de
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