Regulation: Elastomers in drinking water contact a challenge...
4 Sep 2026
Analysing substance-migration from elastomer materials with respect to crosslinking, processing conditions
Technical paper by Rainer Brandsch, managing director, SAFE+ Algorithmics GmbH, supplied via the WDK:
Elastomers in contact with drinking water are subject to increasingly complex regulatory requirements, creating new challenges for manufacturers of elastomer components.
In particular, the introduction of the KTW Evaluation Criteria (Umweltbundesamt, the German Federal Environment Agency) and the European Drinking Water Directive (European Commission) poses new formulation-specific requirements.
Where substances subject to a limit value (MTCtap – maximum tolerable concentration at the tap) are employed in the manufacture of elastomer components, compliance of the product with these limit values must be demonstrated under conditions of use.
Such evidence may be provided either by migration testing or by migration simulation (modelling).
