We recently determined for an analytical client whether and to what extent the rubber stopper used to seal a medication bottle generates particles when pierced with a syringe to withdraw the medication. The client was surprised that piercing the stopper can generate particles measuring several hundred micrometers and wanted to statistically investigate the process.
Our customers often ask how best to package their sensitive samples for transport to our testing laboratory. Products of high purity must be handled carefully. Instructions on how to pack them correctly can be seen in the following video.
Anyone who has samples tested for cleanliness relies on reliable testing and precise determination and representation of the particles contained. With our Particle Browser, we offer you software for follow-up checks and revisions to verify analysis results and to identify and correct possible measurement errors.
Our particle scanner for quick and easy cleanliness checks according to VDA-19.1 and ISO-16232 has received an update. The new hardware is even more compact and delivers razor-sharp images of unwanted residual dirt particles with a resolution of 5 µm/pixel.
In October 2019, the Association of German Engineers (VDI) published a new guideline on the purity of medical devices (VDI 2083 Sheet 21:2019-10). In this article we inform customers and interested parties about essential aspects of the new directive.
Given the continuing shortage of protection materials for hospital staff during the Corona crisis, Helios experts have in the past weeks developed a safe procedure for refurbishing FFP masks. Helios is making this method publically available, so that all medical staff can be supplied with sufficient protective materials.
It is often surprising for our customers when we find hard mineral particles on their components during technical cleanliness analysis. Customers ask: "How can that be? We didn't find anything in our own cleanliness tests." The contamination of hard minerals is so important, because these particles have an abrasive effect and thus massively damage mechanical systems such as gears and motors.
The determination of the technical cleanliness according to VDA-19.1 or ISO-16232 is now an integral part of quality control and error analysis - because the cleanliness of components is decisive for the quality and error-free function of the product. In addition to particles, filmic contamination poses a problem, as the following example from quality assurance in the manufacture of electric drive systems shows.
In order to answer the question of the whereabouts of microplastic particles from tire abrasion, new analysis methods are urgently needed to reliably identify and count these particles. We conducted a pilot study to test the possibilities of automated SEM-EDX analysis in quantifying tire abrasion in environmental samples.
