Additive manufacturing continues to reshape how mission critical components are designed, produced, and qualified. From aerospace and defense to energy and industrial applications, organizations rely on additive processes to create complex geometries, reduce weight, and accelerate production timelines.

But printing a part is only one step in the journey.

Ensuring that part meets mechanical, metallurgical, and compliance requirements is what determines whether it succeeds in real-world service. That is where Laboratory Testing (LTI) delivers unmatched value.

Machine shops preparing for AS9100 or IATF 16949 audits are facing more scrutiny than ever. A growing number of audit findings are tied directly to calibration providers, documentation quality, and evidence of lab competency. The standards have not changed. What has changed is the level of enforcement and the expectation that shops can clearly defend their calibration program.

Below is a clear explanation of why this shift is happening, what auditors expect to see, and how an accredited calibration partner can help you walk into your next audit confident and prepared.

Even with efficient lab processes in place, customers play an important role in keeping projects moving smoothly. Here are the top three things you can do to help your testing project stay on track.

1. Send Enough Material for Testing

One of the most common delays happens when too little material is provided. Every analysis requires a minimum sample size. Sending enough — or even a little extra — ensures testing can be completed in one run without needing to pause and request more.

2. Ensure Samples Are Clean and Representative

Accurate results depend on representative samples. Contamination, surface debris, or unclean material can skew outcomes and may require retesting. Clean, properly prepared samples make sure results reflect the true composition and performance of your material.

3. Provide Clear Instructions and Testing Requirements

The more detail you provide upfront, the faster we can align the testing process with your goals. Whether it’s compliance with ASTM or Nadcap standards, trace element detection, or a full composition breakdown, clear requirements reduce back-and-forth clarification and accelerate your results.

Why This Matters

With a best-in-class 3.39-day average turnaround across thousands of jobs, LTI is built for speed and precision. By sending enough material, ensuring your samples are clean, and providing clear instructions, you help us maintain efficiency while delivering the reliable results your industry requires.

Watch the Full Walk-Through

Want to see the process explained by our experts? Watch our Brand Ambassador, Ashley Yerkes, and Senior Analyst II, Jessica Ingalsbe, as they walk through ICP analysis in our Chemistry Lab.

Watch the Video Here

Learn More

For technical details on our ICP services — including detection limits, element lists, and specifications — visit:
https://labtesting.com/services/metal-and-materials-testing/chemical-analysis/icp-analysis/

Need help preparing your samples? Contact us today — our team is here to guide you so you get fast, accurate, and standards-compliant results.

What is the EB/NNS Level 3 Certification?

The EB/NNS Level 3 Certification is part of the Navy’s Naval Shipbuilders Program, a recently developed initiative designed to raise the standard of Nondestructive Testing (NDT) across its supply chain. This independent, third-party certification departs from traditional employer-based models, ensuring that certified professionals meet Navy-defined benchmarks for competence.

The certification spans multiple NDT disciplines:

• Liquid Penetrant (PT)
• Magnetic Particle (MT)
• Radiographic Testing (RT)
• Visual Testing (VT)
• Ultrasonic Testing (UT)

To support the Navy’s mission readiness and manufacturing integrity, this certification will be mandatory for suppliers doing business with Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding starting in Q2 2025.

A Demanding Certification Process

Gaining EB/NNS Level 3 Certification is no small feat. Candidates must pass a 3-hour, open-book exam conducted in secure Pearson VUE testing centers. The exam is designed to test deep knowledge of Navy specifications across NDT disciplines, requiring both technical expertise and time management skills.

Some notable challenges include:

• Extensive spec lookup during the test
• Stringent security (ID checks, no personal items, and even pat-downs)
• A strict pass/fail system, with only two attempts allowed

Failure on both attempts results in permanent disqualification from future certification—a high-stakes environment that underlines the importance of preparation.

Why This Matters for LTI Customers

With Bryan certified in four methods and Phil in ultrasonic, LTI is ahead of the curve—and well positioned to support clients who need to meet these emerging requirements. As the certification becomes mandatory, many suppliers may find themselves scrambling to qualify. LTI’s early adoption ensures our customers stay mission-ready without interruption.

Even more critically, some suppliers may not be aware of the new requirement—particularly sub-tier vendors who haven’t received official notice. Our goal is to help bridge that communication gap and keep our partners informed and prepared.

Strategic Advantage for the Future

As the Navy enforces this new standard, companies with certified providers will have a distinct competitive edge. LTI’s proactive investment in training and certification means we’re not just ready—we’re ready to lead. This is more than a badge of honor; it’s a testament to our ongoing commitment to quality, compliance, and customer success.

Let’s Talk

If your organization is involved with Electric Boat or Newport News Shipbuilding—or if you’re simply looking to work with a lab that values technical excellence and industry leadership—reach out to us today. We’d be happy to discuss how LTI’s certified experts can support your NDT needs.

In the world of engineering, materials are often subjected to fluctuating or cyclic stresses during their operational life. These stresses can lead to fatigue, which is one of the most common causes of material failure. To predict how materials will behave under cyclic loading, the ASTM E606 standard provides a structured method for conducting low-cycle fatigue testing on metals and alloys. Specifically, it covers strain-controlled fatigue testing to determine the fatigue life of materials when they are subjected to cyclic strains that lead to eventual cracking or failure.

This blog will guide you through the basics of ASTM E606, focusing on the importance of fatigue testing, the role of test specimens, and the geometries recommended by the standard.

Overview of ASTM E606:  
Strain-Controlled Fatigue Testing

ASTM E606 is a comprehensive standard used to evaluate the fatigue behavior of metallic materials. The goal is to subject specimens to repeated strain cycles and observe the effects over time, such as crack initiation and propagation. Fatigue data gathered using this method can help engineers predict how materials will perform in real-world conditions.

Key Elements of ASTM E606 Testing:

• Strain-Controlled Cyclic Loading:  The material is subjected to cyclic loading based on controlled strain levels, allowing researchers to observe how materials respond to deformation.

• Cyclic Stress-Strain Curve:  This curve helps characterize the material’s fatigue properties, including the elastic and plastic response of the metal.

• Fatigue Life Estimation:  The number of cycles to failure under varying strain amplitudes is recorded to determine the fatigue life of the material.

• Crack Initiation and Propagation:  The testing allows for the analysis of crack formation in materials, which is critical in evaluating structural integrity.

The ASTM E606 testing is essential for industries like aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing, where materials are constantly exposed to cyclic stresses in harsh environments.

Predominant Industries Using ASTM E606:

1. Aerospace and Defense:  Components like turbine blades, structural airframe parts, and landing gear are subjected to cyclic loads during operation. Fatigue resistance is critical to ensure the reliability and safety of these components.

2. Automotive:  Vehicle components, especially in engines, suspensions, and chassis, experience cyclic stresses. Strain-controlled fatigue testing helps manufacturers assess the durability of materials and components over time under repeated loads.

3. Power Generation (Energy Sector):  Components in power plants, such as turbines, boilers, and other high-stress parts, must withstand long-term operational fatigue. This includes both fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants.

4. Oil and Gas:  Offshore platforms, pipelines, and drilling equipment undergo significant cyclic stresses due to environmental forces. Testing helps ensure these materials can handle prolonged operational conditions.

5. Construction and Civil Engineering:  In bridges and large structures, materials experience cyclic loads from traffic, environmental conditions, and vibrations. Understanding the fatigue behavior of these materials is crucial for long-term durability.

6. Medical Devices:  Implants and prosthetics, which are subjected to repeated stress and strain from the human body, also benefit from strain-controlled fatigue testing to ensure they can perform safely over an extended period.

7. Raw Material Suppliers:  Producers of metals and alloys often perform fatigue testing to provide data on the fatigue properties of their materials to customers.

8. Additive Manufacturers:  Additive Manufacturers often utilize fatigue testing to verify the integrity of 3D printed components used across numerous industries where failure is not an option.

Test Specimens in ASTM E606

One of the critical components of strain-controlled fatigue testing is the test specimen itself. The standard specifies detailed guidelines for the shape, size, and geometry of specimens to ensure consistency and reproducibility in testing results. The specimen’s geometry is particularly important since factors like shape and surface condition can influence the fatigue performance of a material.

The ASTM E606 provides various recommendations for specimen geometries, each designed to minimize inconsistencies in data collection and simulate real-world conditions effectively.

Basic Geometry Types

1. Cylindrical Specimens:
   Cylindrical specimens are among the most commonly used in ASTM E606 testing. They are designed to allow uniform stress distribution along the test length, ensuring accurate results. These specimens typically have a reduced section in the middle, where the testing forces are concentrated, while the ends are gripped securely in the testing apparatus.
   
   Dimensions for a cylindrical specimen typically include:

• A reduced gauge section, where the cyclic strain is applied.
• A transition section to avoid stress concentration at the ends.
• A gripping section at both ends for mounting the specimen in the testing machine.

Applications:  Cylindrical geometries are frequently used in aerospace and automotive industries for testing components like shafts, bolts, and pins that experience rotational or axial loading.

• Flat Specimens:
  Flat specimens are another common type, often used for sheet metals or materials with directional grain structures. They typically have a rectangular cross-section with a reduced middle section. These specimens can simulate the behavior of thin materials that are subject to cyclic bending or tensile forces in real-world applications.
  
  Dimensions for flat specimens include:

• A uniform reduced section where strain is focused.
• Tabs or grips on either end to secure the specimen in the test machine.

Applications:  Flat specimens are useful for evaluating the fatigue life of thin components like metal plates, structural panels, and other flat geometries used in various industries.

• Notched Specimens:
  Notched specimens are specially designed to introduce stress concentrations into the material. These specimens simulate real-world conditions where cracks or flaws may exist in the material, which can significantly impact fatigue life. Notches can take the form of sharp grooves, holes, or other geometric features.

Notched specimen dimensions:

• Similar to flat or cylindrical specimens, with the addition of a machined notch or defect in the reduced section.

Applications:  These specimens are often used in critical structural components where stress concentrations (such as bolt holes or sharp corners) may initiate cracks, such as in aircraft fuselages or automotive frames.

Geometric Considerations in ASTM E606

The geometry of a test specimen is crucial to ensuring accurate, reproducible results. Several factors need to be taken into account:

• Gauge Length:  The reduced section of the specimen where strain is applied is critical for ensuring that the material deforms uniformly and predictably. The gauge length is typically minimized to focus the cyclic stresses in a small, controlled area.

• Surface Finish:  A rough or uneven surface finish can introduce stress concentrations that may artificially shorten the fatigue life of a specimen. For this reason, ASTM E606 recommends a polished surface finish to eliminate irregularities that could skew results.

• Stress Concentration and Notches:  As previously mentioned, notches or other stress concentrators can be introduced intentionally to simulate real-world conditions. These geometric modifications allow for the testing of how materials behave when flaws are present, helping engineers better predict material performance in practice.

• Gripping Sections:  These sections ensure that the specimen is securely held during testing, without affecting the strain applied to the reduced section. Care must be taken to ensure the gripping sections do not introduce additional stress that could interfere with the results.

Conclusion

ASTM E606 provides a robust framework for evaluating the fatigue life of metallic materials under cyclic strain. The standard ensures that the test conditions are repeatable and consistent, offering critical data for industries where fatigue failure is a major concern. Understanding the geometric requirements of test specimens is essential for producing reliable results. Whether using cylindrical, flat, or notched specimens, the specific geometry of the specimen will influence how a material performs under cyclic loading, and by following the guidelines set out in ASTM E606, engineers can simulate real-world operating conditions and better predict material performance.

This standard plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety and longevity of components that experience fluctuating stresses, making it indispensable in sectors like aerospace, automotive, and heavy machinery manufacturing. By understanding both the basics of the standard and the nuances of specimen geometries, one can better appreciate the importance of fatigue testing in material science and engineering.

2. Increased Safety Risks

Safety is paramount in industrial operations. Equipment that is not properly calibrated can pose serious safety hazards. For example, incorrect readings from pressure gauges, temperature sensors, or flow meters can lead to unsafe operating conditions, potentially causing accidents, injuries, or even fatalities. Ensuring all equipment functions accurately can help maintain a safe working environment and prevent costly and tragic incidents.

3. Higher Operational Costs

Failure to calibrate equipment can lead to a cascade of operational inefficiencies. Inaccurate measurements can cause machinery to operate under suboptimal conditions, leading to increased wear and tear. This not only shortens the lifespan of equipment but also escalates maintenance costs and downtime. Furthermore, the cost of rectifying issues caused by faulty equipment can far exceed the expense of regular calibration.

4. Non-Compliance with Regulations

Industries are subject to strict regulatory standards that often mandate regular calibration of equipment. Non-compliance can result in severe penalties, including fines, legal action, and loss of certifications or licenses. Regulatory bodies enforce these standards to ensure safety, environmental protection, and product reliability. Thus, failing to comply not only jeopardizes operational legality but can also damage an organization’s reputation and market position.

5. Loss of Customer Trust

In industries where precision is crucial, such as pharmaceuticals, aerospace, and food production, maintaining customer trust is vital. When equipment is not calibrated correctly, the quality and safety of products can be compromised. If customers receive faulty or substandard products, it can lead to loss of trust and damage to the brand’s reputation. In a competitive market, rebuilding trust is a long and challenging process, and it may lead to significant loss of business.

Conclusion

Regular calibration of industrial equipment is not just a technical necessity but a fundamental aspect of operational excellence. It ensures product quality, enhances safety, reduces operational costs, ensures regulatory compliance, and maintains customer trust. Neglecting this critical maintenance task can have far-reaching consequences, affecting every aspect of industrial operations. Therefore, implementing and adhering to a rigorous calibration schedule is essential for sustaining efficiency, reliability, and competitiveness in the industrial sector.

Contact Laboratory Testing today to learn more about our comprehensive calibration services, including calibrations at your location within 125 miles of our lab. Minimize operational downtime, and ensure the consequences above don’t happen to you. Visit our website or call us for a consultation and quote. 

Minimizing Downtime 

In industries where precision and timing are critical, downtime can be costly. Equipment failure or the need for calibration often means a pause in production, affecting timelines and productivity. A calibration company that can quickly replace faulty instruments ensures that your operations continue with minimal interruptions, maintaining your production flow and meeting project deadlines efficiently. 

Ensuring Continuity and Consistency 

Continuity in processes is vital for maintaining the consistency of measurements and product quality. A calibration partner offering immediate instrument replacement helps ensure that your operations remain uninterrupted, thereby upholding the accuracy and reliability of your measurements. This is particularly crucial in sectors like aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and automotive, where precision is non-negotiable. 

Access to the Latest Technology 

Staying competitive means keeping up with technological advancements. Calibration companies that provide instrument purchasing services allow you to access the latest technology and equipment. This means you can upgrade your instruments regularly, ensuring that your measurement tools are state-of-the-art, accurate, and efficient. 

Cost Savings and Efficiency 

Streamlining your processes by working with a single provider for both calibration and instrument procurement can lead to significant cost savings. This approach reduces administrative overhead, simplifies vendor management, and often results in better pricing due to established relationships. Moreover, integrated services can enhance operational efficiency, saving time and resources. 

Comprehensive Service and Support 

A calibration lab that offers both replacement and purchasing services provides comprehensive support, addressing all instrument-related issues promptly. This reduces the burden on your internal teams, ensuring that experts handle all aspects of instrument management, from calibration to replacement, thereby enhancing service quality and reliability. 

Jeff Gust, Chief Corporate Metrologist of Fluke Corporation, emphasizes, “Having a single point of contact for all instrument-related needs enhances operational efficiency and ensures better service delivery”​ (Fluke)​. 

In Conclusion 

Choosing a calibration company that offers quick instrument replacement and purchasing services brings numerous benefits, including minimizing downtime, ensuring continuity, accessing the latest technology, achieving cost savings, and receiving comprehensive support. These advantages make such calibration labs a valuable partner in maintaining the efficiency and quality of your operations. 

Contact Laboratory Testing today to learn more about our comprehensive calibration services, including instrument replacement and purchasing. Ensure your operations never miss a beat with our reliable and efficient solutions. Visit our website or call us for a consultation and quote. 

As an aid to our customers, LTI can give some information on what factors make a UT test easier or more difficult. This can help you decide how ultrasonic testing could best be applied to your product. First, it will help to get an overview of how UT works.

The Ultrasonic Testing Process

Ultrasonic testing is performed by sending sound pulses into a material, typically thousands of times per second. These sound pulses have a frequency much higher than what people can hear, thus the term “ultrasound”. Higher frequencies can detect smaller defects. A device called a transducer receives an electrical pulse from the UT test system. It converts this pulse into sound. The sound travels into and through the test material and reflects off of surfaces. These surfaces can be the outer surfaces of the part, boundaries associated with the metallurgical structure of the material, or actual defects. In general, any location where there is a big difference between material properties will reflect sound.

This reflected sound is detected by the transducer and converted back into an electrical pulse. The UT test system displays this pulse on a screen. We call this an indication. We can get some information about what the sound reflected from based on the size, shape, and location of the indication on the screen.

In general, we’ll compare this indication to an indication made from an artificial defect we placed in similar material. This artificial defect is usually a notch or a flat bottom hole. Notches are usually made with electrical discharge machining and simulate cracks. Holes are usually drilled and simulate inclusions, bursts, or other internal defects. The flat bottom helps generate a repeatable response. We call a piece of material with such notches or holes a reference standard.

The Impact of Material Characteristics

Numerous material characteristics can affect what size defects ultrasonic testing can find. Among these are:

• The alloy of the material
• How the material was processed and heat treated
• The surface finish of the material
• The geometry of the material

Alloys
Carbon steel and aluminum alloys do not have very complicated metallurgical structures, and therefore sound travels through these materials fairly easily. By contrast, 6Al-4V titanium has two different crystal structures, which interact with each other, and thus there are more things to affect how sound travels through such an alloy. In general, the more complicated the alloy, the more difficult it is to UT.

Processing and Heat Treatment
Most of the material LTI performs ultrasonic testing on is wrought. The forming processes used can have a significant effect on how difficult UT can be.

One example is forged material. When properly forged, a forging will have a fairly uniform grain structure throughout. This makes the UT test easier. When improperly forged, the forging will have a fine grain near the outer surface, and very coarse grains near the centerline. The coarse grain structure is more difficult to penetrate, and the transition region between the two structures is even more difficult.

Castings tend to be more difficult to test than forgings. The cast grain structure tends to be nonuniform, which causes the same difficulties as improper forging.

With tubular products, seams, die scratches, and wall thickness variations can appear to be defects even when they are otherwise acceptable.

Certain heat treatments, especially on more complicated alloys, can also make ultrasonic testing more difficult. One important consideration is that UT results are generally invalidated if the material is heat treated after the UT test because the heat treatment itself can generate defects which weren’t present during UT.

Surface Finish
The surface finish has a significant effect on how much sound can get into the material. A rough surface will diffuse the sound all over; a smooth surface allows the sound to pass straight into the material. Most specifications require a surface roughness of 250 Ra or smoother, which is comparable to medium sandpaper. The reference standard also must not be smoother than the test material.

Geometry
Geometry is probably the most significant factor affect the feasibility of UT. Thick sections require more sound amplification, which makes for a noisier test. Extremely thin sections, besides being fragile, require specialized transducers to properly distinguish between the material surfaces and true defects. Tubular products with very heavy walls require special techniques for directing the sound waves to inspect the full volume of the material. Finally, material which has machined features can be difficult or impossible to UT – the UT system can’t tell the difference between a hole which should be there and a defect which shouldn’t. In general, the more complicated the geometry, the more difficult UT will be.

In general, flat bottom holes smaller than about 1/16 inch can be difficult to find. Notches less than about 0.004 inches can be difficult to find. All these factors affect how successful ultrasonic testing will be on a particular material. LTI’s UT department is always happy to discuss your testing requirements.

Testing laboratories have an obligation to adhere to high ethical standards in order to provide customers with the accurate and reliable test results needed to meet their requirements and reduce uncertainty. While all businesses should have high ethical standards, there is no option for anything less for businesses that involve health, safety and the well-being of customers and/or the public. This is certainly the case with laboratories that test materials for manufacturers in the supply chain for defense, aerospace, nuclear, transportation and other industries where the reliability of end products is critical.

A Company-Wide Responsibility

Maintaining ethical standards is the shared responsibility of the laboratory and every employee, especially those who come into contact with customer orders, either directly or indirectly. This not only includes physical processing of the test samples or reporting of the test results, but applies to employees responsible for quoting, order entry, billing and equipment maintenance. Also included are all levels of management and even support staff in departments such as Quality Assurance (QA) and IT who can have an influence over the reliability of testing, data and reported results.

Company-wide ethical behavior is a must at a materials testing laboratory in order to provide error-free service and to give customers confidence in the work performed. It must be promoted and reinforced at all levels of the company, but the guiding principles must be established at the top, demonstrated, and communicated from the top down. Clear expectations for ethical behavior and other cultural norms should be stated in writing and communicated regularly, so there is no second-guessing what is expected.

The Role of Quality Assurance

Organizational structure, or where the Quality Assurance Department fits in an organization, is also an important factor for maintaining ethics in testing. Consider the vital oversight role QA performs. In order to maintain a high level of impartiality and objectivity, QA should be independent from the testing or other process departments. Ideally, QA should report to top leadership, equal to Operations, so that the required authority, impartiality and organizational freedom are maintained.

It’s Your Right to Know

The test lab should foster an ethical workplace culture and reinforce desired behavior through documented policies and procedures, training, performance reviews, awards and other recognition and by providing methods for employees to discuss ethical concerns and report unethical behavior without fear of reprimand. No matter how strong the work ethic, mistakes can happen. It’s extremely important that a laboratory have a system in place for owning up to mistakes, righting a wrong, reporting errors to customers, preventing non-conformances, and retraining when needed.

A customer should be entitled to ask their testing laboratory how they promote ethics and ensure impartiality in their organization and processes. How well the lab does this may suggest how well they run other parts of the business, reflects the importance of and value placed on honesty and transparency, and ultimately could be a strong indicator of the laboratory’s level of accuracy and reliability.

Watch as Phil Trach, ASNT NDT Level III in Ultrasonic Testing at Laboratory Testing, presents his webinar titled, “Ethics, NDT, and a Good Night’s Sleep” on the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) website.

When you need chemical analysis services, you expect to receive accurate testing and results, but not all laboratories provide the same level of reliability. A well-planned and managed internal quality control program is vital to ensuring that accurate results are reported. A lab’s quality program may include the following:

• Accreditation of analysis methods which confirms that proper test procedures are followed.
• Routine calibration of chemistry instruments.
• Participation in “round robins” where a number of laboratories analyze identical samples in order to determine the precision of each reported parameter in the test

Documentation and Verification from Start to Finish

Also, there needs to be a level of quality control, on a daily basis, during routine order processing. It’s extremely important for a laboratory to document and verify at every opportunity to avoid errors and ensure that their customers receive accurate testing and results. There are generally numerous processes that need to be completed in the lab from receipt of an order until the test results are documented in a certification for the customer. If not handled properly, these steps leave opportunity for human error.

A high-quality lab will have a system of checks and balances in place to ensure that all orders are processed according to the customer’s expectations and the applicable specification requirements. This needs to begin when the order is received and not let up until the analysis is completed and the results are documented and sent to the customer.

The following process is a highly reliable and efficient example. Similar steps can and should be applied by any laboratory with a quality focus.

Receiving Department:

Upon receipt of a sample, a purchase order and/or other paperwork for an order, use photos and scanning to make digital copies of everything. The files should be saved with a unique tracking number that is also applied to the physical materials that were received. This will provide easy-reference documentation of the complete order and will be helpful if items become separated later while moving through the lab.

Order Entry:

Enter all details of the order into the laboratory’s testing software along with the order’s unique tracking number.

Engineering:

Verify that the sample, paperwork instructions and tracking number all match the information that was entered into the system during order entry. Add test codes and any applicable sample preparation or machining instructions to the order.

Machining / Sample Preparation:

While reading all details of the machining or sample preparation instructions that need to be completed, this is another opportunity to verify that the tracking numbers on the sample and paperwork match. Enter the tracking number into the software program on any CNC machines used to prepare the sample for analysis to link the machining with the order.

Chemical Analysis Lab:

Once the sample is ready for analysis, the quality control checks need to continue in the Chemical Analysis Lab. While the technician is reviewing instructions on the test method to be performed, the sample, paperwork and tracking number should again be checked for accuracy. This unique number should be entered into the test instrument’s software program before the analysis is performed to link the data and test results. Another technician can double check the completed work to confirm everything is in order.

At times, a specimen fails to meet the test requirements. This is a perfect opportunity for another double check of all preparation and testing performed by the lab to be sure all instructions and procedures were followed correctly.

Certification:

With all of the documentation and verification performed throughout all previous stages of order processing, the information provided to the certification staff should be complete and reliable. Customers will have peace of mind that their certification contains accurate test results.

Your service provider’s internal quality control program will determine their level of reliability. Asking what a lab will do to ensure you receive accurate test results is a sensible first step in selecting your lab for chemical analysis.