RAPID•ID™ is an easy to use, low cost, palm-sized system for field plastics identification. At less than 13 ounces, it is the world’s smallest and most innovative solution for identifying plastics quickly. RAPID•ID delivers results in a single, non-destructive test in less than 20 seconds. Designed by DeltaNu, RAPID•ID uses Raman technology to obtain the molecular fingerprint of any tested material and then uses proprietary algorithms to compare it to that of known reference materials stored in a spectral library. Test results appear on its clear, bright display and are saved to a detachable memory card for future reference. The RAPID•ID is also highly customizable: users can easily add library entries for the specific materials pertinent to their business.
A simple solution for a complex problem set
There are many reasons to implement RAPID•ID for field testing. Your motivation may be the significant price disparity between different grades: for example, the cost of cast acrylic is up to five times more than the cost of extruded acrylic. Another motivator is to eliminate the possibility of putting incompatible materials in your production line and then incurring the time and expense of purging and cleaning up equipment due to contamination. A very powerful motivator is to avoid any potential liability associated with shipping a product that does not comply with your customers’ precise material specifications.
If verification of a plastic is required, users are forced to use highly specialized laboratories that still use slow and destructive techniques, such as differential scanning calorimetry. The alternative to lab testing is crude and often hazardous to the person performing the test, possibly exposing them to hazardous fumes, specifically with the burn-and-sniff test. RAPID•ID identifies most plastic materials anywhere, anytime, wherever they are: on the truck, on the dock, in the warehouse, in raw form or after processing, eliminating the need for laboratory testing.
Trust and verify saves time and money
For small companies, the cost of outside laboratory or in-house testing of incoming materials is often prohibitive. To save time and money, these companies may choose to rely on the certificates of conformance they receive from their suppliers. They trust that their suppliers will ship conforming materials. However, that trust can be shattered by a single shipment of contaminated or erroneous materials. The result of trusting without verifying can cost thousands of dollars for remediation — and put the company’s reputation in jeopardy. RAPID•ID verifies that the materials sent by trusted suppliers meet your specifications. And that closed-loop control is better for everyone’s bottom line.
Get the information you need to accept or reject materials on the spot
Imagine being able to test an incoming shipment of materials before it is unloaded from the delivery truck. One plastics furniture manufacturer uses RAPID•ID to test bales of incoming recycled material right on the delivery truck to ensure that the polypropylene flakes they order are actually polypropylene. If the RAPID•ID test results indicate that the bales contain non-compliant materials, the delivery trucks are turned away and sent back to the company of origin. Imagine how much time and money you could save by using the same on-the-spot testing approach with RAPID•ID.
Increased regulatory compliance demands require updated solutions
As plastic materials continue to proliferate, so do the number of regulatory compliance demands. The RAPID•ID can be a key component of a system that complies with all regulations by confirming the identity of plastics materials as they arrive at your facility. RAPID•ID can potentially help satisfy the RoHS directive’s limitations on the use of additives such as Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR’s) and the EU’s REACH regulation that requires proof of the absence of Substances of Very High Concern by helping you isolate plastic compounds that have unwanted additives. Because these emerging regulations require a significant increase in plastic component screening, you don’t have time to wait for results from laboratories that can take days or weeks due to their backlog of materials that need testing.
Health and safety issues increase the need for accurate testing
In some instances, screening of plastic components in a manufacturing or in a product qualification/validation environment is of the utmost importance. One example is the recent California ban on using phthalates in children’s rubberized PVC toys. This ban forced the Consumer Product Safety Commission to find ways to quickly test materials for this substance in consumer products. DeltaNu has established that the RAPID•ID detects concentrations of phthalates as low as 1% in PVC products in seconds. Problem solved.
Another example of the effectiveness of the RAPID•ID is testing all the new and innovative, high-performance plastics used in the medical devices industry. The emergence of these new materials has increased the need for metrology instruments that can adequately test all incoming and WIP materials for compliance. RAPID•ID is the ideal solution for this kind of careful, non-destructive and precise testing because it can detect materials through transparent sterilization bags, which allows materials to be sorted without compromising their sterile state. RAPID•ID can be configured to test for any number of specific materials from all manufacturers, without limitation. For example, an implant manufacturer decided to use RAPID•ID to differentiate only between Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK), which can be easily confused on the manufacturing floor due to their similar look and feel. This significantly decreased their liability risk of the wrong material ending in a person’s body.
A new technology for a new reality
In today’s environment of increased safety, quality and productivity requirements the plastics industry needs to ensure that the right material is flowing swiftly across the many stations in the value chain. The challenging economic environment amplifies mistakes making them many times more costly. State-of-the-art portable instruments such as the RAPID•ID enable companies to gain competitive advantage by increasing the level and speed of testing at minimal cost. This revolution in quality control technology may be similar to the transition from centralized processing in mainframes to the proliferation of small, individual processing stations such as PC’s, laptops and now smart phones.
For more information about how RAPID•ID can speed your testing while lowering your costs, call 1-866-301-6328 or email RAPIDID@deltanu.com. You can also visit our booth, W133013, at NPE in Chicago in June.
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