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Chemistry

What is Ellipsometry?

Ellipsometry measures a change in polarisation as light reflects or transmits from a material structure. The polarisation change is represented as an amplitude ratio, Ψ, and the phase difference, Δ. The measured response depends on optical properties and thickness of individual materials. Thus, ellipsometry is primarily used to determine film thickness and optical constants. However, it is also applied to characterise composition, crystallinity, roughness, doping concentration, and other material properties associated with a change in optical response.

Since the 1960s, as ellipsometry developed to provide the sensitivity necessary to measure nanometer-scale layers used in microelectronics, interest in ellipsometry has grown steadily. Today, the range of its applications has spread to the basic research in optical coating, physical sciences, semiconductor and data storage solutions, flat panel display, communication, biosensor industries. This widespread use is explained by increased dependence on thin films in many areas and the flexibility of ellipsometry to measure most material types: biological coatings, composites of materials, dielectrics, semiconductors, metals, superconductors and organics.  Find out more about J A Woollam at https://youtu.be/szkqdcoclkQ.  The UK Distributor, Quantum Design UK hold annual workshops which include an introduction, fundamentals of ellipsometric data analysis, and an overview of ellipsometric applications in both research and production.  Contact Angela Carslake for more information on the next workshop and register your interest.

alpha SE Spectroscopic Ellipsometer

J A Woollam alpha SE Spectroscopic Ellipsometer –
for spectral range of 380-900 nm

For routine measurements of thin film thickness and refractive index, this ellipsometer allows you to mount a sample, choose the model that matches your film, and press “measure”. You have results within seconds.

With fast measurement speed and push-button operation, the alpha-SE® is ideal for qualifying thin films. Single-layer dielectrics on silicon or glass substrates can be measured in seconds.

Coatings on Glass:  Patented technology allows accurate measurements on any substrate: metal, semiconductor, or glass. On transparent substrates, the alpha-SE® measures depolarisation to correct for light returning from the backside of the substrate. This unwanted light can confuse other ellipsometers, but the alpha-SE® ensures accurate optical constants.

Key Features:

  • Easy to use:  Push-button operation is complemented by advanced software that takes care of the work for you
  • Proven spectroscopic ellipsometer technology gives you both thickness and index with much higher certainty than other techniques
  • Works with your materials – dielectrics, semiconductors, organics, and more
  • Spectroscopic ellipsometry for simple sample systems
  • Hundreds of wavelengths simultaneously collected in seconds for immediate results

Quantum Design represent J A Woollam in the UK and Ireland.  Please contact Shayz Ikram for more information on the alpha-SE ellipsometer.

Introduction to the alpha-SE Spectroscopic Ellipsometer

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Press Releases

Are you ready for EU Poison Centre Notification Format?

Consumers and workers come into daily contact with hazardous chemicals, and although they are expected to be used according to safe-use instructions, unintentional exposure may happen: ingestion, skin contact, inhalation, etc. In those cases, emergency professionals need rapid product identification, information about the chemicals contained and its hazardous properties, all these in order to facilitate the identification of the correct treatment and to avoid further damage.

And this is exactly what a poison centre does: it provides medical advice to citizens and healthcare professionals on health emergencies arising from exposure to hazardous chemicals or to other toxic agents; such as medicines, plants, bites and stings. Poison centres in the EU answer calls for support daily and around the clock.

On 22 March 2017, the Regulation (EU) nº 2017/542 was published, adding the Annex VIII, about the harmonised information relating to emergency health response. According to the ECHA, “It’s about harmonisation, and harmonisation brings synergies and efficiencies”. It was designed to regulate all hazardous mixture notifications (mixtures classified with health and/or physical hazards) within the EU, and established two new concepts related to chemical safety:

  • A harmonised information format file: a common format file which will gradually replace the current national requirements in force.
  • A Unique Formula Identifier (UFI): a unique code for each product which will be added on the label.

This new system, although efficient and beneficial in the long term, also implies a new complex notification process for companies, which will have to notify their products in the official language of each country in which they are marketed, pay different national taxes, etc. Providing harmonized information will certainty improve emergency health response, but the number of notifications is expected to significantly increase, and the producers and manufacturers who have started to work with the new system have already experience workability issues such us:

  • Insufficient time prior to deadline to assimilate notification tools.
  • Regular product variations that will lead to multiple and frequent changes of UFI for the same product.
  • Problems working with the ECHA Submission portal: navigation is complicated, too many clicks; it is not always directly clear if you made a wrong input, since validation is only available at the end of the process; notification via Guided Dossier Preparation took approx. 2 – 3 hours for a single product.

To overcome these inefficiencies and for the harmonized notification system to be truly useful for society, but also viable for companies, experts believe that there is a need for managed automation that minimizes the impact of:

  • Tens of thousands of products to be notified.
  • Frequent formulation changes. Partly own initiative, partly by raw material suppliers or driven by legislation changes.
  • Not feasible to do notifications & updates manually. Notifications must be generated in bulk.
  • Automation requires standardization. The solution must work for thousands of notifications at a time.

Time is running out, since the new harmonized notification process shall apply from 1 January 2021, after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. That is why we have updated CHEMETER, a reliable SDS authoring software which provides you with country specific legislation, up-to-date regulatory information, continuous new features development and professional assistance. It is also a friendly modular software which accommodates each company’s needs considering the country, sector and the aim of the company. It creates an extended range of documents; such as SDS, e-SDS, labels, dangerous goods documents and sector specific paperwork. It is one of the highest implemented software solutions worldwide, and now in addition, we have updated it to provide it with an additional module that issues automatic notifications in a few minutes.

The new module is specially designed to help users to comply with new poison Centre Notification Requirements for Hazardous Mixtures in the EU. It automatically creates PCN dossiers for harmonised notifications. Just in a few minutes, users will get the file with all the necessary documentation: automatic UFI code generation, toxicological information, complete chemical composition, etc. It is a simplified process, which indicates step by step in a simple way the data that the user needs to complete it. In a few clicks, users will get the file to notify all products.  It is a significant time saver compared to the 2 or 3 hours it would take to generate the Poison Center Notification (PCN) format for a single product using the official portal.

You can get more information about CHEMETER and all Siam services on our website https://www.siam-it.com/en/.

BASF / BTC Europe FREE Webinar: HEP N-Hydroxyethyl-2-Pyrrolidone, Hydrophilic Co-Solvent for the Formulators Toolbox.

HEP uniquely combines a high boiling-point and water-solubility allowing for diverse use as a co-solvent or extraction solvent typically in inks, coatings, cleaning, agrochemicals / pharma applications. Its hydrophilic nature and strong polar solubility also suggest its use as a humectant. Current users of 2P, GBL and NMP will be interested to learn that HEP is label-free and can offer a low-tox or more sustainable alternative to standard pyrrolidones.

If you would like to find out a little bit more about the chemistry, characteristics and applications for HEP then please join us for the following session:

Thursday 8th October 2020
09:30 UK/BST
Register here to attend.

BCF calls for further changes to UK REACH after small step in the right direction

The British Coatings Federation has welcomed recent proposed changes to the forthcoming UK REACH regime as a small but welcome step in the right direction. However, it has also warned that these changes alone will not be enough to prevent the coatings sector – and wider chemicals industry – from being hit hard financially under the new post-Brexit regime. This is because it does still not resolve the underlying, inherent problems with the proposed UK REACH system namely duplication of the EU REACH system and re-registration of all substances in a new database. It is this wholesale re-registration – including full data dossiers duplicating registrations already held in the EU REACH system – which will prove so bureaucratic, burdensome, and costly to business.

The easiest and seemingly best way to avoid this wholesale duplication would be for the UK and EU to negotiate a data-sharing agreement as part of the ongoing Free Trade Agreement talks. This would potentially mean the UK regulator would maintain access to data already registered in the EU REACH database and avoid it having to be re-registered in the new UK REACH system. The BCF fully supports the UK Government’s attempts to achieve this result as part of the FTA talks.

However, if that data-sharing outcome is not achieved as part of an FTA, the Government needs to go further and initiate greater changes to the proposed UK REACH system. The time extension for substance registrations simply spreads the cost of the registration requirements over a longer period: it does not reduce the overall cost to business. Those additional costs will still make it uneconomic for some lower quantity substances to be registered in the UK REACH database, making them unavailable in the UK and leaving UK companies at a significant disadvantage to their EU counterparts. Alternatively, UK businesses will have to take on the registration costs themselves to maintain access to crucial substances, again putting them at a competitive disadvantage.

Tom Bowtell, CEO of the British Coatings Federation said:

“Along with others we have been actively and positively engaged in conversations with the UK Government for well over a year. It is good to see that the Government has listened to the genuine concerns industry has raised and amended their plans for UK REACH. However, while we welcome the changes as a step in the right direction, sadly we do not believe the scale of the amendments are enough to offset the large costs and inconveniences UK business will suffer at the hands of UK REACH system as it stands.

“We hope that a data-sharing agreement on chemicals can be negotiated between the UK and EU as part of an FTA, and fully support the Government as it continues to work for that outcome: it would seem to be the most practical solution to this problem. However, if such an agreement does not come to pass then we hope the Government will continue to engage with, and listen to, the continued concerns of industry. Ultimately, we hope they realise we are not crying wolf over the impact of UK REACH on companies using chemicals like the paint, coatings and printing ink industries, and agree to make further amendments to their plans that will mitigate the effect of the new UK regulatory system on business.”

Frequently Asked Questions of the KKDIK Regulation (Turkey REACH)

With the pre-registration deadline for KKDIK quickly approaching on the 31st of December 2020, we at CIRS are busy monitoring the latest updates and preparing you to fulfil all the necessary obligations. Completion of the pre-registration obligation provides you with a grace period for registration until the end of 2023 after which all chemical substances manufactured/imported to Turkey in one ton/year must be fully registered.

To make this process easier for you, we have gathered all the most frequently asked questions from our practical experience to-date with the KKDIK regulation.

  1. If pre-registration is completed within C&L notification, then why should a foreign enterprise do the pre-registration themselves and not through a TR-importer?

If a TR-importer does C&L notification, they select the role of ‘importer’. The pre-registration will also have been completed under an importer. This may result in the following scenarios (a) higher cost for registration (b) the TR-importer may not do the registration and choose a supplier which has registered their substance with an OR (c) If the TR-importer does the registration, then they can buy the substance from any supplier they want as they will have the registration number. The result is an overall loss of commercial power in Turkey

  1. How is the pre-registration/registration of a polymer processed according to the KKDIK regulation?

Article 4 (hh) of KKDIK: Polymer means a substance consisting of molecules characterised by the sequence of one or more types of monomer units, distributed over a range of molecular weights wherein differences in the molecular weight are primarily attributable to differences in the number of monomer units and comprising of the following:

1) A simple weight majority of molecules containing at least three monomer units which are covalently bound to at least one other monomer unit or other reactant; and

2) Less than a simple weight majority of molecules of the same molecular weight

According to the KKDIK regulation, polymers are themselves exempt from registration. In the same way as EU REACH, it is the monomer unit and any other substances which are present in 1 ton/year or greater which require pre-registration/registration.

  1. For C&L notification of chemicals delivered in mixtures, does each individual substance require notification?

The way a mixture is classified is if the mixture contains a substance which is classified as hazardous and it is above the appropriate concentration limit (varies depending on the substance in question), then the mixture is classified as hazardous. If a mixture meets hazardous criteria, then C&L notification is required. Classification is the same as EU REACH.

  1. Is it possible to transfer completed pre-registrations?

Currently, the online platform for submitting pre-registration/registration dossiers is updating. This is the KKS tool (IUCLID and REACH-IT hybrid). This may take some time to complete. The OR transfer function will be available after the update is complete.

  1. According to KKDIK, all substances manufactured/imported into Turkey in 1 ton/year should be pre-registered. If my substance is less than 1 ton/year can it still be pre-registered?

Yes, it is still possible to pre-register substances which are less than 1 ton/year. This will also cover future business if annual tonnages rise to the 1 ton/year mark or above in the period of three years. If pre-registration is not completed before Dec. 31st 2020 and tonnages rise above the 1 ton/year threshold, then full registration will be required which will be far costlier.

  1. Is there a system of reporting dispatches into Turkey after pre-registration is completed?

Currently, there is not such a system in place for reporting dispatches

  1. When dealing with a mixture, if a raw material is pre-registered under the supplier, can the pre-registration be used by the formulator of the mixture?

This is the decision of the supplier who obtained the pre-registration number and whether he grants access to the formulator to use the pre-registration number.

  1. Who may register in the case of a multinational company/group companies?

This depends on whether each company within the same parent company are defined as ‘registrant’ according to Article 4(ü) of the KKDIK regulation. If multiple companies are under the same legal entity, then just one company needs to act as the registrant. In the case of a separate legal entity, such as a sister company, they should also register.

  1. How are alloys registered?

According to the KKDIK regulation, alloys are treated in the same way as mixtures. Therefore, each individual substance i.e. each metallic substance must be registered individually.

  1. If the tonnage band is expected to increase in the future, can the higher tonnage band be registered under instead?

Companies may register under higher tonnage bands if they expect their annual tonnage to increase. The higher registration fee must also be paid. Furthermore, the registration dossier must include all the required information for the higher tonnage band as data requirements differ between tonnage bands.

  1. If a company is importing a mixture to Turkey, how can they find out if the individual components have already been registered in Turkey by the supplier, if the supplier is refuses to share the information?

The options are to (a) Contact the formulator where the supplier is not the same entity as the formulator. The formulator may be more willing to share the composition information. (b) Take analytical measurements to determine the composition of the mixture or (c) Find an alternative supplier of the same substance who is willing to share the information

  1. Our substance only has a CAS No. and no EC No. is available, can we process pre-registration only with CAS No.?

Yes, there is no problem to process pre-registration without EC No.

  1. We are a distributor located outside Turkey, can we appoint an OR and process pre-registration?

No. It’s same as EU REACH. Only foreign manufacturers can appoint an OR and process pre-registration.

  1. Is there a definition of “new chemical” in the KKDIK regulation?

No. The regulation is only about the substance. There is no specific definition of Existing Chemical and New Chemical. CIRS suggests companies to process pre-registration of all their substances.

  1. If the manufacturer completes the pre-registration, can the local importer take C&L notification with this pre-registration No.?

No, if the importer processes C&L Notification, they have to firstly complete pre-registration by themselves.

  1. Our product contains a raw material which has not been reacted. The tonnage of this raw material is more than 1 ton/year. Are we still required to process pre-registration of this raw material?

It’s similar as EU REACH. If the raw material is not residual on purpose, it can be regarded as an impurity and pre-registration will not be required.

  1. We are a Turkish legal entity which owns several factories in different sites, how shall we process the pre-registration?

According to KKDIK regulation, registrant shall be the natural or legal person in Turkey. If the company has one individual legal entity which own different factories, and the factories have no individual legal entity, only one pre-registration is enough, and all factories will be covered.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Julie Harrington, Regulatory Affairs Consultant

julie@cirs-reach.com

+353 0 87 197 2618

https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-harrington-14270a160/

Safety, Regulatory and Safe Handling of Chemicals

Safety, Regulatory and Safe Handling of Chemicals are topics that constantly challenge the global Chemicals industry at all times.
There is a need for companies to understand the correct regulatory, classification, symbols and pictograms.  It’s not just enough to write SDSs ‘in-house’ without employing proper tools or knowledge resources or simply copy-pasting safety data sheets from competitors, suppliers or from the internet as these could be quite misleading!  Yet another requirement for companies aspiring to get various types of Quality, Compliance, other certifications is to have proper systems in place including those of Safety, Regulatory and Safe handling of Chemicals regardless of being hazardous, non-hazardous chemicals or both.

 SIAM SL, Spain based in the world famous La Rioja wine region of Spain develops IT Solutions and Software for the automatic Classification, Formulation and Authoring of Safety Data Sheets for single substances and mixtures falling under CLP and GHS regulations.  SIAM provides a highly versatile software (CHEMETER) for preparing multilingual SDS in over 55 world regulatory/languages and multilingual product labelling and provides SDS AREA, a platform for easy distribution and management of Safety Data Sheets.
Both CHEMETER and SDS AREA solutions offer major time-savings to companies over traditional methods of authoring SDSs as well as using old software since both solutions come with latest features suited to the current and evolving safety regulations in over 55 countries.   CHEMETER software is easy to understand, open and flexible and built-up in a modular fashion to suit your exact needs at any given time.

1000+ clients across 45 countries that use CHEMETER software and SDS AREA include a variety of manufacturers, exporters, importers, distributors, traders, MSME’s, OEM’s into all kinds of Chemicals, API’s and Plastics and coming from all walks of industry including CASE, Petrochemicals, Pigments, Resins & Additives, Dyes & Dispersions, Textile and Leather Chemicals, Cleaning & Construction Chemicals, Lubes & Greases, Cosmetics, Solvents, Rubber, Plastics, Detergents, Flavours & Fragrances, Water Treatment Chemicals, Agro Chemicals, Monomers and Polymers, Resins and more.

Come 1st November 2020 and CHEMETER software will offer its users an additional module specially designed to help users manage the EU’s new regulation of UFI (Unique Formula Identifier) Code in order to comply with the EU’s new Poison Centre Notification (PCN) requirements for hazardous mixtures being supplied into the EU.   The module automatically creates PCN dossiers for harmonised notifications and within a few minutes, users can upload files with all necessary documentation, automatic UFI code generation, toxicological information, complete chemical composition, etc.   It is a simplified and easy step-by-step process and significant time-saver compared to the 2-3 hours odd it otherwise takes to generate PCN for a single product using the official portal.

You can get more information about SIAM’s Regulatory IT Solutions on https://www.siam-it.com or by sending an email to:

Nirav Banker
(UK, Asia & Middle-East Business Head)

Email: n.banker@siam-it.com
UK Mobile: (+44) 747 096 4875

Sail into a new dimension of Orange

Autumn is a time when reds, yellows and oranges take centre stage. The novel Pacific Orange L2828 pigment from BASF opens up the orange colour-space for paint formulators by providing a highly chromatic hybrid pigment chemistry designed to meet the demanding requirements of powder and industrial coatings, including for lead-chrome replacement.

In comparison to other pigments in the orange colour space if offers outstanding weather resistance and good opacity, with high temperature and chemical stability.
It can be combined with DPP Reds without colour shift, even at higher powder coating curing temperatures, in fact it is the ideal formulating partner to create super-durable orange RAL shades or corporate colours in combination with other high performance organic or inorganic pigments. Pacific Orange is also an excellent choice to overcome the fading of pale or pastel shades in architectural exterior applications due to its excellent weathering fastness in white reductions.

The new pigment will be showcased at Surfex in June 2021 but for further information or to sample please contact Chris Morgan, Head of Sales: Coatings, Inks & Plastics BTC UK Email: christopher.morgan@btc-europe.com

Siltech – Silicone Amines for Coatings

Silicone amine polymers are an interesting category of materials within silicone chemistry.
They tend to provide the very best handle and softness to textile substrates.
They are also quite hydrophobic, so are used in applications such as car care.
They can additionally be used as reactive components in resins.

Broadly speaking, there are 5 categories at Siltech, as follows:

1 – Aminoethyl aminopropyl-based, with structure as shown:

“a” and “b” can be varied.  Silamine 2972 and Silamine MUE are good examples within this product group.

2 – Reactive amino-functional prepolymers, with structures as shown below:

There are a multitude of types, and these can be co-reacted into coatings and resins in order to provide flexibility and add impact resistance.

3 – Silicone polyether amines, as shown here:

In this case, the aminoethyl aminopropyl groups are “solubilised” with polyether groups.  For example, Silamine D208 EDA is water-soluble.  These types are also reactive (carbinol functional), and a, b, c, d and e can be varied.

4 – Silicone alkyl amines have alkyl groups in addition to the amine functionality, in order to improve organo-compatibility. Silamine T-97 is one example, and Siltech has made a series of these products.

5 – Fluorosilicone amines are niche, but Silmer NHF Di-H1 is one example, which has pendant fluoro groups and terminal allyl amines.

Please contact dave.wilson@siltech.com

Siltech – Silicone Film Formers for Coating Applications

Siltech Film Formers are designed to coalesce and react on hard surfaces such as concrete, porcelain, wood, countertops, or rubber, and flexible surfaces such as fabric, paper or leather.

The products are all provided in dispersible or dilutable emulsion form.

Typical properties include:

  • Release
  • Slip
  • Anti-squeak
  • Anti-stain
  • Softness
  • Hydrophobing
  • Gloss
  • Flexibility

Here’s a table which summarises the various types:

Please contact dave.wilson@siltech.com

Siltech – Using SilmerTM Reactive Silicones to Modify Coatings

Silicon and Carbon are the in same column of the Periodic Table, and so the chemistries of Si and C are very closely related.  Siltech builds upon this similarity in the “Silmer”TM reactive line of products, in order to manufacture numerous functionalised pre-polymers.  The resultant silicones can be co-reacted into analogous non-silicone systems in order to improve slip, flexibility, abrasion resistance, release, and hydrophobicity.

 

In the most general terms, the SilmerTM reactive pre-polymers are either multi-functional or linear di-functional, and there is an ever-increasing list of functional types, including the following:

 

  1. Hydroxyl (carbinol) OH
  2. Tetra Hydroxyl (carbinol) OHT functional, for better network formation and improved organo-compatibility.
  3. Acrylate ACR
  4. Tetra Acrylate ACRT
  5. Hydroxy OH ACR Acrylate functional.
  6. Hydride H
  7. Vinyl VIN
  8. Isocyanate NCO
  9. Amine NH
  10. Epoxide functional, both glycidyl-based EP and cycloaliphatic-based EPC.
  11. Trimethoxysilane TMS and Triethoxysilane TES
  12. Thiol SH
  13. Carboxy COOH

 

Please contact dave.wilson@siltech.com to discuss any of these products.

From the Organiser of:

Step Exhibitions
Step House
North Farm Road
Tunbridge Wells
TN2 3DR
UK
t: 01892 518877
e: SCTN@step-exhibitions.com