Gilian Pump with cassette
LCS Laboratory offers sampling cassettes, personal/portable air sampling pumps and laboratory testing for mono- diisocyanates by the OSHA 42 and 47 procedure and mono and poly- diisocyanates by NIOSH 5525.
Isocyanate functional group
Diisocyanates belong to a family of highly reactive organic compounds containing two isocyanate functional groups from which they earned it’s generic name. Diisocyanate, or commonly Isocyanates are widely used in the manufacturing of flexible and rigid foams, fibers, coatings such as paints and varnishes, and elastomers. They are increasingly used in the automobile industry, auto body repair, and building insulation materials. Spray-on polyurethane products containing isocyanates have been developed for a wide range of retail, commercial, and industrial uses to protect cement, wood, fiberglass, steel and aluminum. Including as protective coatings for truck beds, trailers, boats, foundations, and decks.
Skin irritation
Isocyanates are powerful irritants as direct skin contact can cause marked inflammation and skin irritation. Most notoriously, the isocyanates are famous for being sensitizers. Once exposed to isocyanates, people become “sensitised” and can experience severe asthma attacks if they are exposed to diisocyanates again. Death from severe asthma in some sensitized subjects has been reported.
95% of diisocyanate samples, that LCS Laboratory receives for analysis, falls on methylene bis (phenyl isocyanate) (MDI), toluene diisocyanate (TDI), and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI). Other common diisocyanates include naphthalene diisocyanate (NDI), methylene bis-cyclohexylisocyanate (HMDI)(hydrogenated MDI), and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI).
Polyisocyanates were introduced to the market as a safer alternative to diisocyanates. Polyisocyanates are produced via partial condensation if diisocyanates into dimers, trimers and heavier condensates, and they are usually identified by the name of the original diisocyanate and adding prefix “poly-“: poly-HDI or poly-MDI. LCS Laboratory offers the analysis of airborne polyisocyanates by the only available standard method NIOSH 5525.
If you need assistance with sampling of airborne isocyanates, please email us at your convenience.
