(NIST: Gaithersburg, Maryland) -- In a tour de force of measurement science, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed and issued for sale a new test material for calibrating quality control equipment used extensively by the polymer (plastics) industry. The new material, NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2881, “Polystyrene Absolute Molecular Mass Distribution Standard,” provides the absolute molecular masses of 43 different lengths of polystyrene molecules, and their cumulative contribution to the total mass of the sample from 1 to 99 percent.

Developing the new SRM involved a long process of analyzing and optimizing all aspects of the sample preparation, an international comparison of results from different laboratories, and developing improved tools for measuring individual molecular masses using a technique called "matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight" (MALDI TOF) mass spectrometry.

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