On ‘trueness control materials’, better known under the multi-purpose term of ‘Certified Reference Materials’ (CRMs)

Abstract

In a previous editorial [1], we elaborated on one function of a ‘Certified Reference Material’ (CRM) [2] in the process of measurement: that of being used as a ‘calibrator’ [3] in ‘calibration’ [4], the process which is essential in the establishment of the ‘metrological traceability’ [5] and its corresponding ‘metrological traceability chain’ [6] of the ‘measurement result’ [7]. There is another important function in which a CRM can be used by the analyst in the process of measurement, namely as a ‘measurement trueness control material’ [8]. Many cases do occur in chemical measurement where the ‘measurand’ [9] is embodied in (or carried by) a so-called ‘‘matrix’’ material: