Standard Reference Materials | Certified Reference Materials

Standard Reference Materials

As a trusted global standards developer and established proficiency testing provider, for years ASTM International has been providing crucial data that laboratories worldwide rely on.

With a robust suite of 60+ statistical quality assurance programs, our collection of data is unparalleled.

Now, we can help you reduce risk, improve processes, and capture the accurate and precise data you need with our reference materials.

Reference materials from ASTM International provide a cost-effective solution without sacrificing analytical accuracy – a must for any lab and equipment manufacturer or distributor.

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What Are ASTM Reference Materials?

Reference materials are used in the industry for method validation, calibration, and quality control.

The use of high-quality and properly matched referenced materials can help you reduce risk, improve processes, validate other QC materials, and capture accurate and precise data to meet business needs.

ASTM Reference Materials are characterized through the use of test results from a network of competent laboratories. In most cases this will range from 20 to over 100 different laboratories.

With access to a wide variety of petroleum products at multiple levels, our reference materials provide highly accurate reference values with very low uncertainty estimates based on test results from laboratories around the world.

Advantage of Using ASTM Certified Reference Materials

Our Certified Reference Materials can be used for both validation of an analytical process or instrument as well as analyst performance evaluation.

Using our proven consensus-based testing approach, ASTM Reference Materials feature very low uncertainty estimates as they are often based on hundreds of values.

This large population of data yields smaller estimates of uncertainty and provides your laboratory greater confidence in the accuracy of the Accepted Reference Values (ARV) published on the Certificate of Analysis for each reference material.

In contrast, reference materials with large uncertainty estimates will be of limited value as they have reduced capability for establishing whether or not an instrument or analytical process is performing as intended.

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Benefits of Using ASTM Reference Materials

With access to a wide variety of petroleum products at multiple levels, our reference materials provide highly accurate reference values and very low uncertainty estimates based on test results from labs all over the world.

Benefits of Using ASTM Reference Materials:

work with a trusted international standards provider

receive only high-quality, validated samples

improve precision and accuracy of testing

promote confidence in your data with low estimates of uncertainty

avoid product failures and resulting complaints

reduce risk and increase production and efficiency

improve ROI on equipment and decrease overall costs

provide more experience for analysts and lab technicians

demonstrate quality and boost credibility in the marketplace

meet regulatory requirements

Using Standard Reference Materials

Characterization of standard reference materials is necessary to assign property values to the material. There are a number of approaches that can be taken for characterization including:

Matrix
The reference material should have a matrix as close as possible to the matrix of the material that will be subjected to the measurement process. For Example — If a laboratory wishes to validate vapor pressure in motor gasoline, then the reference material should be motor gasoline, not another matrix such as crude oil.

Level
The reference material should have properties at the level(s) appropriate to the level at which the measurement process is intended to be used. For Example — Concentration

Quantity and Container Suitability
The quantity of the reference material, the container type, and the container capacity should be in accordance with the test method requirements and include some reserve if necessary. For Example — ASTM D5191 specifies that the only valid container for obtaining samples is 250 mL or 1L containers. ASTM D3606 requires 25mL of reference material.

Acceptable Uncertainty of the Certified Value
The smaller the acceptable uncertainty value is, the more accurate the ARV is under equivalent confidence intervals.