Industrialists of the luxury sector, you wish to study the release of nickel in your articles?
What is nickel?
Nickel is a chemical element in block d of the periodic table of elements and has the symbol Ni. Nickel is a ductile metal, white or silver in color. It has good resistance to oxidation and corrosion and is ferromagnetic.
Moreover, nickel is present in several compositions including watch bands, costume jewelry and clothing accessories (buckles, buttons, clasps, …).
Why analyze the nickel in your luxury items?
Nickel is the most allergenic of all metals.
Indeed, nickel allergy is a contact allergy that most often manifests itself by the appearance of itching, redness or even eczema. These reactions are caused by prolonged contact with the skin of an object containing this element in its composition.
It is estimated today that 10 to 20% of women and 1 to 3% of men suffer from a contact allergy to nickel. Thus, the maximum authorized limit in Europe of released nickel for articles in direct and prolonged contact with the skin is 0,5 µg/cm²/week. This limit is lowered to 0.2 µg/cm²/week for piercing.
The determination of the nickel release rate for an object intended to be in contact with the skin is thus necessary to evaluate the allergenic character or not of this one.
For this purpose, standard EN 1811 describes the reference test method for the release of nickel from products that are intended to come into direct and prolonged contact with the skin. The EN 12472 standard describes the conditions for simulating wear and corrosion to be applied before determining the nickel released by objects made of a coated base metal (simulation of 2 years of normal use of the object).
Thus, the support of a laboratory specialized in the analysis of nickel in luxury products is a considerable asset in the verification and optimization of your products.
FILAB supports you in the study of nickel release in your luxury goods
With significant experience in the implementation of these standards and the development of specific methods, FILAB can assist you with your nickel release testing or consulting needs for your luxury goods.
To go further
Study of failures: delamination, breakage, corrosion, coloring and odor problems...
Deformation of materials or mixtures
Characterization of materials: polymers, leathers, metals, composites, ceramics...
Compatibility and stability studies (container/content interaction, extractables and salts)
Identification of pollution (deposit, particle, stain) by SEM and FTIR
Precious metal analysis
