ISO Focus - February 2009

Materials – Building blocks of performance

ISO Focus, February 2009

Online version

We are easily impressed by the great technological achievements of our time. But we often take for granted the building blocks that enabled these creations.

Yet the performance of an imposing skyscraper, the latest vehicle or an awe-inspiring spaceship like that of many other products and structures is ensured by the specifically designed and tested materials that compose them.

In this context, International Standards are important to promote efficiency through best practice and requirements that guarantee quality and safety across global boundaries.

The February issue of ISO Focus explores the latest developments in standardization of materials, giving particular focus to how standards enable their different applications.

Read about antibacterial textiles and the possibilities presented by nanomaterials or state-of-the-art self-cleaning (photocatalyst) materials. Learn about standards ensuring the safety of car tyres or the quality of printing paper and understand the added value that ISO standards bring to this most basic of fields in this issue of ISO Focus !

Comment

Rob Steele
ISO Secretary-General

Reach high

Guest View

Eija Pitkänen
Head of Sustainability, Stora Enso

“The implementation of International Standards provides us with a robust base for our sales operations and customer service.”

Main Focus

Materials

Surviving space – It starts with the right materials
A few papery issues
Success story – ISO standard key to legislation banning carcinogenic oils in tyres
Saving costs, ensuring performance – Wear resistance of tyres
Fit for use – Furniture fillings
Versatile and widely used – Aluminium leaps into the 21st century
All it takes is a bit of light – Purifying and self-cleaning photocatalyst materials
Partnering for materials metrology – VAMAS
Weaving a safer future – Antibacterial textiles
Harmonizing test methods for energy and moisture performance of building materials
Think small, very small – Nanomaterials, the element of tomorrow
Cork – Natural, renewable, biodegradable
Trend 2010 – Optimizing timber standards