Document: ISO/TC 194

N 408
Date: 2002-03-15

ISO/TC 194/WG 14 Material characterisation

BRIEF MINUTES AND PROGRESS ACHIEVED AT THE MEETING IN BERLIN;GERMANY; 11 - 12 MARCH 2002
The meeting was attended by 20 delegates from 11 countries.
The meeting was chaired by Dr. John LangAt the last meeting of WG14 in Delft, Netherlands on 6, 7 September 2000, additional revision
points were agreed, for sections of ISO/DIS 10993-18 not covered in the previous meeting inJapan in May 2000. The intention was to update the document and send to the Secretariat toissue for a 6 month vote to be completed in advance of the next ISO/TC 194 meetingscheduled for Berlin in September 2001.
Owing to additional job responsibilities and work pressures the Convener was delayed incompleting the revision of the DIS. The Secretariat advised that the DIS could not be issued fora vote until WG14 had reviewed and approved it at a meeting. As a consequence the revision ofthe DIS was not completed and sent to the WG until June 2001. The cancellation of theSeptember 2001 meeting added further delay and the WG members were asked to sendcomments on the document in the interim period which the Convener then compiled, organised
and distributed with proposed responses.
At the WG14 meeting on 11 March 02 the WG14 comments were discussed and actions agreed
resulting in some further editing / refining of the DIS. The implications of the Baxter Dialysers
incidents were also discussed and some additional text was added to ISO/DIS 10993-18 todraw attention to the specific types of issues that had been encountered.
At the WG 14 meeting on 12 March 02, Dr Donald Gibbons project leader of WG15 TF3presented his findings on the state of the art on ‘Topological and physiochemical characteristics
of materials’. Dr Gibbons’ structure and content of his review was much appreciated by the WG
members and a copy of his report will be sent to each member. WG14 and Dr Gibbons agreed
that the time was right to begin work on ISO 10993-19, a NWIP proposal which had been
agreed several years ago but for which WG14 had made a strategic decision not to split into 2
sections but instead, with the agreement of the Secretariat and ISO/TC 194 at the time, tosuspend work on part 19 until the bulk of the work on part 18 was completed. In order to bestPage 2

define the structure of the proposed part 19 the WG agreed that we should encourage input
from experts on materials in relevant organisations not currently represented in WG14 and an
initial list of useful contacts was compiled. WG 14 are also considering the potential need fordevelopment of an ‘umbrella’ document on General Principles in Characterisation of materials
which parts 18 and 19 would fit under.
In order to make progress on part 19, WG14 intend to meet again before the end the year inassociation with other WGs and / or a relevant conference. Following some discussion at WG11
this may be adjacent to their proposed meeting in Chicago in October.
WG14 proposed 2 resolutions:
1. ISO/DIS 10993-18 should be sent to the Secretariat with the intention of proceeding
quickly to a formal ISO and CEN parallel vote for acceptance of the revised DIS.
2. Action should now commence on the suspended approved NWIP to develop ISO/DIS
10993-19, Physico-chemical, mechanical and morphological characterisation ofmaterials.

Dr John Lang
Convener of WG14