Safety of toys - Categorization of slime type materials

This document specifies a test method for categorization of slime-type products to support users of EN 71-3 in the categorization of products with slime-like behaviour into material categories 1 (dry, brittle, powder-like or pliable toy material) or 2 (liquid or sticky toy material).

Sicherheit von Spielzeug - Einstufung von schleimartigen Materialien

Dieses Dokument legt ein Prüfverfahren für die Kategorisierung von schleimartigen Produkten fest, um die Anwender der EN 71 3 bei der Einstufung von Produkten mit einem schleimartigen Verhalten in Kategorie 1 (trockenes, brüchiges, staubförmiges oder geschmeidiges Spielzeugmaterial) oder Kategorie 2 (flüssiges oder klebriges Spielzeugmaterial) zu unterstützen.

Sécurité des jouets - Catégorisation des matériaux de type slime

Le présent document spécifie une méthode d’essai pour la catégorisation des produits de type slime, afin d’aider les utilisateurs de l’EN 71 3 à classer les produits ayant un comportement similaire à celui du slime dans la catégorie de matériaux 1 (matériau-jouet sec, friable, poudreux ou souple) ou 2 (matériau jouet liquide ou collant).

Varnost igrač - Razvrstitev materialov, podobnih sluzi

Ta dokument določa preskusno metodo za razvrstitev materialov, podobnih sluzi, v pomoč uporabnikom standarda EN 71-3 pri razvrščanju izdelkov z lastnostmi sluzi v kategorijo materiala 1 (suh, krhek, prahu podoben ali upogljiv material za igrače) ali kategorijo materiala 2 (tekoč ali lepljiv material za igrače).

General Information

Status
Published
Publication Date
24-Oct-2023
Current Stage
6060 - Definitive text made available (DAV) - Publishing
Start Date
25-Oct-2023
Due Date
28-Apr-2024
Completion Date
25-Oct-2023

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SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-maj-2024
Varnost igrač - Razvrstitev materialov, podobnih sluzi
Safety of toys - Categorization of slime type materials
Sicherheit von Spielzeug - Einstufung von schleimartigen Materialien
Sécurité des jouets - Catégorisation des matériaux de type slime
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TS 17973:2023
ICS:
97.200.50 Igrače Toys
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

CEN/TS 17973
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
SPÉCIFICATION TECHNIQUE
October 2023
TECHNISCHE SPEZIFIKATION
ICS 97.200.50
English Version
Safety of toys - Categorization of slime type materials
Sécurité des jouets - Catégorisation des matériaux de Sicherheit von Spielzeug - Einstufung von
type slime schleimartigen Materialien
This Technical Specification (CEN/TS) was approved by CEN on 28 August 2023 for provisional application.

The period of validity of this CEN/TS is limited initially to three years. After two years the members of CEN will be requested to
submit their comments, particularly on the question whether the CEN/TS can be converted into a European Standard.

CEN members are required to announce the existence of this CEN/TS in the same way as for an EN and to make the CEN/TS
available promptly at national level in an appropriate form. It is permissible to keep conflicting national standards in force (in
parallel to the CEN/TS) until the final decision about the possible conversion of the CEN/TS into an EN is reached.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2023 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TS 17973:2023 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
4 Theory . 5
4.1 Historical methods . 5
4.1.1 General . 5
4.1.2 Tube test . 6
4.1.3 Shape test . 6
4.2 Newly developed test method – “rod test” . 7
5 Test procedure for the “rod test”. 7
5.1 Principle . 7
5.2 Test equipment . 7
5.3 Sample preparation . 8
5.4 Test execution . 8
6 Results evaluation . 10
7 Categorization . 10
Annex A (informative) Background considerations on slimes . 11
A.1 Possible facts to describe slimes found in the market . 11
A.2 Development of the “rod test” . 11
Annex B (informative) Interlaboratory trial . 13
B.1 General . 13
B.2 Conclusion. 13
Annex C (informative) Detailed results from the interlaboratory trial . 14
C.1 Rod test . 14
C.2 Shape test . 16
C.3 Individual subjective evaluation of additional parameters . 17
Bibliography . 21

European foreword
This document (CEN/TS 17973:2023) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 52 “Safety of
toys”, the secretariat of which is held by DS.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body.
A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.
According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the
following countries are bound to announce this Technical Specification: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of
North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the
United Kingdom.
Introduction
There have been long lasting discussions on the correct categorization of slime type products in
conjunction with testing those products according to EN 71-3 and the applicability of the correct limit
value.
Due to their complex behaviour, in many cases a clear distinction cannot be made easily to come to a
reliable conclusion on category 1 (pliable) or category 2 (liquid).
As they often present non-Newtonian behaviour on the one hand and/or are creeping rather than free
flowing on the other hand the determination of the status appears complex. The stickiness of some
compositions needs to be evaluated in a specific way and presents a further challenge.
According to Annex II, Chapter 3, Paragraph (13), the Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC differentiates 3
material categories, which are derived on a risk basis from, besides other facts, (inter alia RIVM report
320003001/2008 [incl. erratum]) an assumption of daily values for ingestion: category 1 - 100 mg toy
material per day/category 2 - 400 mg toy material per day. This was confirmed by SCHER - Final Opinion
on Estimates of the amount of toy materials ingested by children as of 8 April 2016, ISBN 978-92-79-ND.
Hand-to-mouth contact (addressing residues on the hands/fingers) is yet addressed within the
mentioned RIVM report and therefore addressed by the given limit values. In this conjunction sticky
should mean “visible product residues” on fingers and hands (wet feeling does not necessarily reflect the
intake of toy material).
For slime-like products, such as toy slime (free-flowing), effect slime (creeping slime masses) and
kneading slime (quasi-stable pliable compounds), 2 possible categories come into consideration:
— Category 2: liquid or sticky toy material;
— Category 1: dry, brittle, powder-like or pliable toy material.
Some test institutes as well as market surveillance authorities tend to categorize more conservative into
category 2 because of a potentially higher level of protection which leads to different evaluations. This
may be not proportionate from the TSD perspective.
The purpose of this document is to give some clarification on slimes and their behaviour, methodology
for the characterization as well as an approach for a suitable categorization.
Besides various elements, the element boron is of particular interest for slime-like products which
usually obtain their special (non-Newtonian) properties (such as rheopectic or thixotropic behaviour)
through the cross-linking of organic components (binders) with the element boron.
For category 1, the migration limit for boron is 1 200 mg/kg toy mass, for category 2 the migration limit
is set to 300 mg/kg.
In the context of conformity assessment, it is of particular importance to categorize the slime-type
materials correctly for a well-founded evaluation of the test results on the applicable limit value.
Request for a test method proposal
The test method should be easy to use and show acceptable precision for decision making. It must also
be pragmatic and may be based on a convention.

1 Scope
This document specifies a test method for categorization of slime-type products to support users of
EN 71-3 in the categorization of products with slime-like behaviour into material categories 1 (dry,
brittle, powder-like or pliable toy material) or 2 (liquid or sticky toy material).
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp/
— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
3.1
slime
liquid, semi-liquid or firm material exhibiting free flowing, viscous, paste-like up to creeping behaviour
presenting non-Newtonian properties (like rheopexy or thixotropy) and changing the shape over a
certain time when left alone
3.2
liquid
free flowing fluid presenting Newtonian behaviour, not keeping any defined shape when not kept in a
container
3.3
modelling clay
putty
pliable material exhibiting kneadable behaviour (soft to firm) keeping the shape after manipulation
3.4
creeping
slow steady flow of a viscous material under low stress conditions commonly understood as a specific
viscoelastic property
4 Theory
4.1 Historical methods
4.1.1 General
Due to the non-Newtonian behaviour of slime-type products, the standard measurement methods for
viscosity are not suitable to obtain reliable results for the categorization.
Furthermore, there is no clear range or point for decision making.
Known provisional methods need mechanical manipulation of the material in preparing the sample for
measurement.
4.1.2 Tube test
Cylindrical test tube
Tube dimensions Diameter 30 mm
Height min. 60 mm
Procedure Slime is pressed into the tube and the slime surface is cut flat
Tube inclination: 90°/45°/0° (different approaches)

The time for the protrusion of 10 mm of the slime material is taken
Results evaluation ≥ 90 s → category 1
< 90 s → category 2
Disadvantages of the tube test
— Sample material handling needs some effort to fill the tube properly (e.g. without air bubbles).
— Sample material can be influenced by sweat/fat from the hands and loss of humidity, hand
temperature or mechanical forces which may trigger non-Newtonian behaviour.
— The test material needs to be cut at the upper edge of the test tube to have an exact starting point.
— The material cannot be used for further testing.
— No data on reproducibility is available.
— Time taking is not exact because there is no means of a defined end point.
— The test tube material and inclination are not defined and agreed anywhere.
4.1.3 Shape test
A sphere (ball) is shaped from the slime-type toy material with a diameter of 30 mm (as far as it is
feasible).
The sphere is placed on a flat horizontal glass, metal or plastic surface and the initial height is determined
(H0). The sphere is left for 5 min ((300 ± 5) s). Subsequently
...

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