Children often receive toys and toy jewelry as gifts during the holidays. Some toys, however, especially imported toys, antique toys and toy jewelry, may contain lead. Lead is sometimes used as an additive to paints, or the toys themselves may be made of lead.

The long-term harmful effects of lead (Pb) exposure to children under the age of twelve are well documented. While lead is not visible to the naked eye and has no smell, the good news is there is a fast, straightforward, and nondestructive method to test children’s jewelry and toys for dangerous levels of Pb.

Pb has historically been used in jewelry for a variety of purposes. The potential risk of purchasing new jewelry with high Pb content is greatest with jewelry that contains minimal, if any, precious metals. It’s important to keep in mind that Pb in jewelry does not enter the body by simply wearing it. The way Pb can enter the body is if it is put it in the mouth, which is not an unusual thing for a child to do. If the Pb mixes with saliva or stomach acids, it can leach out into the body.

The use of Pb in consumer products was first banned by the European Union in 2006 with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive. EU’s REACH program set a limit of no more than 0.05% (or 500 PPM) Pb by weight in consumer products, which includes children’s jewelry. The United States issued limits on Pb in children’s jewelry through the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act with the American Society of Testing and Materials. ASTM’s specification set a limit of no more than 0.01% (or 100 PPM) Pb by weight in jewelry for children under 12 years of age. Other regions have their own regulations.

Bruker’s portable XRF (PXRF) analyzers provide nondestructive measurements of elements from magnesium to uranium, with touchscreen operation and easy-to-read, understandable results. PXRF testing of Pb in children’s jewelry is a fast and simple operation with minimal steps. Read the full article here.

Wishing you and yours a safe, healthy and happy holiday season!

Understanding the underlying physical and chemical properties of cathode, anode and electrolyte is key to improving the performance and stability of battery cells and their components. During Bruker Battery Day on October 7^th, our experts from Kontich (Belgium) and Karlsruhe (Germany) introduced users from around the globe to the XRM and XRD techniques used for battery research and gave live demonstrations of the D8 ADVANCE diffractometer and the SKYSCAN 2214 X-ray microscope. We also took a close look at the development of battery cells for in-operando XRD at the LRCS Energy Hub (Amiens, France), from where J.-N. Chotard shared the latest results on all solid-state batteries investigated by his group.

Detailed insight into the relationship between structure, function, and reactivity is crucial for the success of modern science. Single Crystal X-Ray Diffraction (SC-XRD) is one of the most powerful methods for generating this vital information and has thus become an essential tool for new discoveries. An up-to-date overview on Bruker’s solutions for SC-XRD is available in our brochure on chemical crystallography. The brochure also provides you with information on how to best configure the best solution for your crystallographic challenges and gives insights on the operating principle of many of the components and highlights their most prominent feature. Learn from the brochure which combination is the most environmentally friendly one and figure out how much cooling water and carbon dioxide you can save using state-of-the-art instrumentation. 

A high-resolution source, integrated vibration isolation and optimized detector positioning already made the SKYSCAN 1272 the premier benchtop high-resolution 3D X-ray microscope. Building on this, the SKYSCAN 1272 CMOS Edition incorporates a state-of-art 16 MPS CMOS detector, providing high-contrast images with superior resolution as well as an extended detector field of view and enhanced sensitivity, resulting in up to 2x faster scan times. To learn more, visit the updated SKYSCAN 1272 CMOS Edition webpage and download the new brochure.

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