TY - CONF A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Barthel, Anne-Kathrin A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Bannick, Claus Gerhard A1 - Obermaier, N. A1 - König, F. A1 - Jekel, M. T1 - The use of reference material in microplastic research: general aspects N2 - Discussions in science, politics and public media about microplastic in the Environment and its unclear effects for animals and humans are common these days. Although microplastic findings in water, soil and even air are well known, no general estimations about the quality or quantity of microplastic particles in environment exit. Research is necessary to develop reliable and traceable, harmonized protocols for sampling, sample preparation and fast, but accurate analysis for qualitative and quantitative measurement of microplastic in various environmental matrices. For development of such reliable and traceable methods, the use of microplastic reference materials is necessary to assess various concepts. These microplastic reference particles should be an appropriate reflection of the microplastic particles found in environment. Due to the high use in industrial products six polymers seem to be relevant in environment as microplastic particles: polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyamide (PA) and polyvinylchloride (PVC). The raw source of These thermoplastic materials are pellets or granulate with dimensions of 1 to 5 mm in diameter. Most common they own a regular cylindrical shape or are prolate sphericals. These can be bought cost-efficient by various polymer producers. But discussions in microplastic research topic lead to particle sizes down to 1 μm. Furthermore, various unregular shapes and geometries of the particles have to be considered as well as an oxidized surface. In the present work we engage the acquisition and production of realistic reference material. Different aspects should demonstrate the complex and difficult task of generating approriate, cost-efficient and well-defined reference materials. The particle size distribution by using different particle sizing methods as well as individual particle shapes are documented. Different material properties were addressed. PE, PS and PA were chosen as typical and relevant microplastic with opposite individual material characteristics in density and glass Transition temperature. The easiest possibility for acquisition of small microplastic particles is the purchase of polymer emulsion particles (20 to 150 μm). An alternative possibility to produce small microplastic particles is milling under liquid nitrogen conditions in cryo mills. Particles purchased or self-made differ strongly in shape and size depending on production method. SETAC T2 - SETAC CY - Brussels, Belgium DA - 08.05.2017 KW - Microplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Particles PY - 2017 AN - OPUS4-40264 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -