INTRODUCTION

There are three major purposes for these guidelines on incoming inspection of raw material. They are:

• To provide background information on uses of specific raw materials, citing applicable reference specifications, where they exist.

• To provide a series of tests to be used for incoming inspection of these raw materials with the significance of each of the itemized tests given summary explanation.

• To provide, where applicable, a proposed method for functionally testing the raw material in question.

The number and frequency of tests performed by the user, will be at the user's discretion. In this fashion, the user can provide himself with the necessary level of confidence he desires on incoming raw materials. Additionally, and because of this arrangement, testing can be performed at a level commensurate with the user's operations and capabilities.

Although many tests are referenced and described in these guidelines, it is not intended that these tests should be performed in total, either by the user or the vendor of the material. Discrete selection of testing requirements is as important a parameter as the tests themselves.

Materials whose properties have been tailored to provide certain characteristics, or where certain characteristics are important to the user, should not be tested for other parameters that do not give additional inputs into the material's properties an.d that may be misleading; this applies to users and vendors alike, as these guidelines are not intended to be used as a purchasing document.

Section 1 of these guidelines provides general information that will be helpful in using the other sections, as well as establishing those rules that apply to the b.road spectrum of incoming inspection procedures.