Measurement of nanoparticle removal by abrasion

A strong release limitation of single nanoparticles from commercial manufactured "nanoproducts" is necessary to decrease potential exposure risks of consumers and represents also a pragmatic way to facilitate acceptance for nanomaterial commercialization before obtaining definitive toxicological results. So, it is of prime importance to know how to characterize the release of small materials during usage solicitations such as mechanical, thermal, UV stress: are they single nanoparticles, aggregates or nanoparticles included in a bigger piece of the matrix? In the frame of NanoSafe2 project, CEA developed and qualified a specific bench test where the material to be tested is mechanically solicited by abrasion using a normalized Taber equipment. The first results show that nanofillers can be released in usage by abrasion for non optimised nanoproducts.