STANDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS FOR THE POLYMERS INDUSTRY.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides science, industry, and government with a central source of well-characterized materials certified for chemical composition or for some chemical or physical property. These materials are designated Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) and are used to calibrate measuring instruments, to evaluate methods and systems, or to produce scientific data that can be referred readily to a common base. In this paper, we discuss the history of polymer based SRMs, their current status, and challenges and opportunities to develop new standards to address industrial measurement challenges.