Selected metrological aspects of permeation cells used for testing the resistance of polymeric materials to penetration by liquid chemicals

The barrier properties of polymeric protective materials are determined by laboratory testing of normalized breakthrough time (NBT), which is a measure of material resistance to permeation by chemical substances. In 2015, the standard EN 374-3:2003 was superseded by the amended standard EN 16523-1:2015. The objective of the present work was to assess the metrological characteristics of the new permeation cell in terms of validation parameters such as: precision, repeatability, intermediate precision (intralaboratory reproducibility), limit of detection, and limit of quantification. Another goal was to compare the effect of changes in permeation cell construction on the measured barrier properties. Laboratory tests have shown that the introduction of the standard EN 16523-1:2015, which modified the construction of permeation cells, do not significantly affect measurement results.