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 RJLG began an artificial turf sampling program when New Jersey announced their concern to the CPSC. Through the program, we have seen the total level of lead reach as high as 7,000 mg/kg in turf: an extremely high amount that approaches percentage value.
RJLG has also determined that a small percentage of the total is potentially transferable and is potentially leachable. Storm water runoff could lead to a migration of lead to surrounding soils, likely requiring excavation, encapsulation or use restrictions.
Click here for more information on the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ruling and the RJLG solution.
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 RJLG announces a new service that offers a methodology to evaluate friction plate material. Previous studies have shown that the most common failure mode is the result of thermal degradation of automatic transmission fluid (ATF). This leads to the deposition of ATF degradation products on the friction material surface. That results in a loss of friction performance. The loss is manifested on the friction plate as glazing. Recently developed methodologies utilize a suite of analytical techniques that give a comprehensive understanding of material conditions. These techniques use advanced analytical equipment to provide direct information regarding the chemical nature of the glaze.
Our RJLG experts utilize their knowledge in optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to analyze the viability of friction plates and also provide our clients with a comprehensive understanding of system failures.
For more information, contact Mark Sparrow at msparrow@rjlg.com or click here to view our latest factsheet.
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 RJLG’s HIAC liquid particle counting system is simple, efficient and cost effective. In addition to the automated scanning electron microscopy and Raman techniques used for particle sizing and counting, our pharmaceutical experts now perform USP<788> testing with the HIAC. This light obscuration technique may be used individually or in combination with other techniques to provide accurate foreign particulate matter determination.
For more information, please contact Karen Sutch or Julie Wolfe or click here to view latest factsheet.
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RJLG’s Dave Crawford, Director of Technical Consulting Services, was recently interviewed on ‘Our Region’s Business’, a Sunday-morning business affairs program co-produced by the Allegheny Conference and Cox Broadcasting. The show aims to play a positive role in the Pittsburgh region by providing business news, information and commentary in a lively and entertaining format.
Discussion was geared around the company’s growth and expansion plans, as well as the most recent investment in the branch laboratory in Greene County, PA.
Look for the broadcast on Sunday, August 24th, 2008. Hosted by Bill Flanagan, Our Region’s Business airs on Sundays at 10 a.m. on WPXI-TV.
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 The “Artful Asbestos” image, taken and submitted by RJLG’s Matt Sanchez, was awarded Best Overall Image at the Inter/Micro 2008 Photomicrography Competition at the Inter/Micro Conference. This Polarizing Light Microscopy (PLM) image of a bundle of tremolite asbestos possessing incredible tensile strength was taken using cross-polarized light with 530 nm retardation. The competition allowed photomicrographs taken using any microscopy technique, including darkfield, brightfield, fluorescence, interference contrast, polarized light, SEM, etc.
The Inter/Micro Conference is an annual meeting sponsored by the McCrone Research Institute (http://mcri.org/).
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 RJLG’s Dr Kristin Bunker will present two posters at Microscopy & Microanalysis 2008. The show is being held August 3rd-7th at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, NM.
The first paper is titled, “A New Method for Fracturing Mineral Particles for Cross-Sectional FESEM Analysis”. This work involves a novel approach for the preparation and characterization of cross-sectional samples of mineral particles and asbestos fibers.
Click here for the complete abstract.
The second paper is titled, “TEM and FESEM: The Right Combination for Enhanced Particle Characterization”. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been a valuable technique for many years for characterizing the morphology, structure, and chemistry of microscopic particles and nanostructures because of its capacity to combine high magnification and high resolution imaging along with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).
Click here for the complete abstract.
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The 10th annual ARMTech Showcase of Industry and Technology will be held on August 13th – 15th, 2008 at the Belmont Complex, located in Kittanning, PA.
 RJLG’s Jerome Schafer and Ellen Martin will be greeting visitors at the Company’s booth and promoting contract research, materials characterization, technical consulting and software development. Exhibitors will be joined by U.S. Rep. John Murtha at the Showcase.
 The ARMTech Showcase is part of the Armstrong County Regional Manufacturing Initiative. The Initiative’s goals include promoting industry recruitment, workforce development and establishing local supplier relationships with Armstrong County and the surrounding region.
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 On July 7th-9th, 2008, RJLG’s Gary Casuccio attended the Safe Handling of Engineered Nanoscale Materials Symposium that was held at Argonne National Labs in Chicago. He was invited to give a presentation at the conference titled ‘Exposure Assessment: Advanced Analytical Tools and TEM’.
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