pro-K Fluoropolymergroup
Technical brochure 3.4
PTFE-polymers and the IMDSsystem of the automotive industry
Status: July 2014
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Preamble
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Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a high performance polymer. Based on its unique properties PTFE
is established as an indispensable construction material in the modern industry. Among the
extraordinary properties of PTFE the excellent resistance to most chemicals, the broadest service
temperature range, the excellent dielectric properties, the persisting to embrittlement, the ageing
resistance and the high purity of this material have to be emphasized.
Due to its outstanding properties PTFE, modified PTFE and PTFE-compounds are preferred for
systematic solutions in chemical engineering, in the machine building industry and automotive
industry as well as in the electronic and electric industry.
Apart of the selection of suitable and applicable construction materials for high value applications the
focus is on the conformity with technical and regulatory requirements, which in all cases have to be
taken into account and implemented before the start of each project. For this reason the complex
regulatory system is increasing in the center of technical applications.
The present brochure addresses to all processors of PTFE and contains information around the use
of PTFE under the regime of the international material data system IMDS of the automotive industry.
This brochure is edited by the pro-K Fluoropolymergroup and has been written by Stefan Ebmeyer,
former Dyneon GmbH.
This brochure presents the state of knowledge as of July 2014.
Picture credit (Front page): © Heute+Comp GmbH
Important note:
This brochure serves only for information purposes. The information given herein has been collected in all conscience. The
author and proK do not accept any liability for the correctness and completeness of the given information. Each reader has to
make sure that the information is suitable and applicable for his purposes.
Status: July 2014
Fluoropolymergroup
The Fluoropolymer group is a expert group o fthe „pro-K Industrieverband Halbzeuge und Konsumprodukte aus Kunststoff“
e.V.; Städelstraße 10, D-60596 Frankfurt am Main; Tel.: 069 - 27105-31; Fax 069 - 239837;
E-Mail: [email protected]; www.pro-kunststoff.de
Trägerverband von
Inhaltsverzeichnis
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1. The International Material Data System IMDS
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1.1
Background and implementation of IMDS
1.2
EU Guideline 2000/53/EG about end of life vehicles
1.3
The system of the international material data system IMDS
1.4
IMDS in the Internet
1.5
1.4.1
The public IMDS-pages
1.4.2
IMDS - training
The IMDS – lists
1.5.1
The list of pure substances
1.5.2
The list of compounds to declare
1.5.3
The ILRS (International List of Reportable Substances)
1.5.4
The GADSL (Global Automotive Declarable Substances List)
1.6
The submission of material data sheets (MDS) by the automotive supply industry
1.6.1
The MDS – submission process
1.6.2
The raw material – submission data / material data sheets (MDS)
Appendix
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The International Material Data System IMDS
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1.1
Background and implementation of IMDS
The background for the implementation of the International Material Data System IMDS is the
national and international environmental legislation according to which each producer is responsible
for the ecological effects of his products. (EU Guideline 2000/53/EG about end of life vehicles,
closed substance cycle waste management, ISO 14040ff, Integrated Product Policy).
To comply with this request detailed information about the composition of the components in cars
and the applied materials and substances is necessary. The automotive association VDA therefore
decided in 1996 to complete the initial sample report according to the VDA manual by a page about
the ingredients (material data sheet) of external components. In 1998 the VDA-management decided
to implement a system that allows to introduce and process material data sheets electronically.
In the meantime further automotive producers have joined the network.
The uniform requirements defined by the material data sheets which the automobile producers ask
from their suppliers have not changed by the implementation of IMDS. They only gained drive. The
data entry was transferred from an official form to a user interface of a database. This technical
solution allows to handle the huge amount of information efficiently.
An electronic supported material data collection was the only way to comply with the mentioned EUguidelines about scrapped cars by 01.07.2003.
To comply in due time with the EU-guideline it was inevitable to declare the amount of heavy metals
like Cadmium, Chromium (VI), Mercury and Lead in automotive components.
Further information about IMDS can be found on the homepage.
www.mdsystem.com
1.2
EU Guideline 2000/53/EG about end of life vehicles
On September 18, 2000 the EU guideline 2000/53/EG about end of life vehicles came into force.
The EU-Guideline about end of life vehicles intends to avoid waste of cars. Additionally provisions for
the recycling and other ways of recovery of end of life vehicles and their components were defined to
reduce the waste removal thus to improve the environmental balance of all companies that are
engaged in a car‘s lifetime and especially in the treatment of scrapped cars.
The guideline for end of life vehicles defines important requirements for materials and components of
cars like:

Article 4: …prohibits the use of lead, mercury and chromium (VI) (except cases and conditions
listed in attachment II) in vehicles that are put into circulation after July 01, 2003.
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 Article 7: … defines measurements for the re-use and recycling of 85% of the average weight
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of the car by 2006 and 95% by 2015…

1.3
Article 8: … labeling and information for dismantlement for the identification of the components
or materials that shall be re-used or recovered latest by October 2001…
The system of the International Material Data System IMDS
With the internet-based IMDS an IT concept was implemented that shows the required data of an
MDS electronically. This concept is used for the electronic collection and reporting of product data.
This concept was realized with a central database of EDS (Informationstechnologie und Service
GmbH, Frankfurt) to provide a standardized process and allow an efficient data collection. It provides
„just-in-time“-availability.
For the recycling- and application adequate construction it is necessary to have detailed information
about the composition of the materials used.
IMDS is based on the structure of the MDS (according to VDA volume II. attachment 16 ingredients
in purchased parts) and replaces it.
In contrast to the hitherto process the MDS of IMDS requires not only the names of declarable
substances but also their exact amount.
In IMDS each component of a vehicle is structured via a MDS by further parts, semi-finished goods,
construction materials and pure compounds.
This structure is arranged in files and sub files which are linked.
A complex component MDB/modul may contain a huge amount of links. To get a clear description of
the structure the system uses a tree like structure the so called product structure tree. It depicts all
links by which an object consists.
Via plus signs on parts or semi-finished goods you can see that there is a further structure behind.
Parts, semi-finished goods, materials and pure materials get a specific code of symbol and colour:

Parts ■,

Semi finished goods ●,

Materials ●

Pure materials ▲.
A component may be described in a product structure tree as follows:
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It can be noticed that each path ends with a pure materials ▲ . This way is intended in order all
components of a vehicle may be described in their composition of pure materials.
This system allows to cover all components by their pure materials and attribute their ingredients
according to their hazard potential for the environment.
An automobile producer thus can describe his vehicle quickly („just-in-time“) by the amount and kind
of pure materials.
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1.4 IMDS in the Internet
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The access in the IMDS-system occurs via the IMDS - Homepage
www.mdsystem.com
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Starting the IMDS homepage you find the following user interface:
Now you have the choice between

The public IMDS pages and

The access for registered system users
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1.4.1
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The public IMDS-pages
The structure of the public pages looks as follows:
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1.4.2 IMDS - training
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For the first access to IMDS it is recommended to open the „index „training“ and to click the service
pages, where a training is offered.
1.5 The IMDS – lists
1.5.1 The list of pure materials
All information about materials in IMDS are based on a “list of pure materials". A chemical service is
responsible for the periodic update of the „list of pure materials“.
IMDS contains about 8.000 ingredients/pure materials with their names and CAS numbers (if
available). Furthermore there are many “pseudo substances” that have been entered based on
ISO 1043. If you need a substance that you cannot find under its name or CAS number you should
contact first the IMDS service center providing the name and CAS number of this substance.
After a comparison with existing substances and examination by an external institute the requested
compound will be included without costs into the IMDS list. Usually a new compound is available
within two working days.
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1.5.2 The list of substances to declare
The „list of substances to declare " in automotive engineering is an integral part of IMDS.
Using the “list of materials to declare” the user of IMDS can implement his own management system
for hazardous compounds of his products that allows to query the actual status.
This is as important in the construction phase as in the end of life phase. If the latter is reached the
data from IMDS may contribute to achieve the required recycling quote of 95% by 2015.
1.5.3 The ILRS (International List of Reportable Substances)
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Since April 30, 2004 a new list of pure materials for declarable compounds is available in IMDS –the
so called ILRS ( International List of Reportable Substances). The reason for the implementation of
this list was to use a common list of all declarable compounds in IMDS for all OEMs. By the
implementation of ILRS a user has to choose only one list of declarable compounds instead of
choosing an individual list for each OEM. The goal was to ease the reporting for all IMDS users.
1.5.4 GADSL (Global Automotive Declarable Substances List)
The new list of pure substances called GADSL has replaced the ILRS on April 29, 2005. Supported
by the supplier and the chemical industry IMDS operating company went a further step and
implemented GADSL.
GADSL is the result of the worldwide efforts of members of the automotive and chemical/polymer
industry joined in the Global Automotive Stakeholders Group (GASG). The purpose of GASG is to
simplify the communication and the exchange of information about the use of certain pure
substances in automotive components by the complete supply chain. GADSL covers only pure
substances, which are present or expected in a construction material or component when the vehicle
is sold.
GADSL is independent of IMDS and will be integrated in OEM-standards by 2005. For the IMDS
user this means that GADSL is the only list, he has to counter check with respect to declarable
substances. All IMDS guidelines and other documents have been updated accordingly.
Meaning of labels:
"P":
Prohibited in all applications
"D/P":
Prohibited in some applications, in all other cases declarable. For further information
consult the GADSL documents.
"D":
Pure substance, which must be declared in any case, if it exceeds the defined limit
It is no prohibited to use it in automotive components.
GADSL does not invalidate the contracts between supplier and OEM.
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1.6 The submission of Material Data Sheets (MDS) by the automotive supply
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industry
Via VDA the automobile producers have indicated that it is in the interest of all members of the
supply chain that the manufacturing industry takes the opportunity to collect the material data by
IMDS.
By the immediate and complete submission of the material data in question the requirements of the
automobile producer were accomplished by the legal deadline of 1. July 2003 (according to Art. 4 of
the guideline 2000/53/EG).
In the beginning the complexity of IMDS caused severe troubles to the supplier industry. However
the pressure of the automotive industry was pretty high so that all participants of the supply industry
could be convinced stepwise by the IMDS system.
1.6.1 The MDS –submission process
History
The supplier of raw materials used to report the composition of their products to the semi-finished
processors via the material safety data sheets (MSDS).
The manufacturers of semi-finished goods have reported the constitution of their products based on
the notified raw materials to the producer of components.
This system caused that there was no clear view about the used raw materials and suppliers had to
report unnecessarily about the composition of their goods.
It is important that the user understands the structure and system of IMDS: if a product leaves the
status of a raw material it is regarded as material and is represented in a material data sheet.
Actual system
It is in the best interest of a supplier to submit his products under his own company name and
product code into IMDS.
Suppliers of raw materials are recommended to submit own products under the company name and
product code even if they could be submitted as pure substance. Only via this process the IMDS
system attributes the pure substance used for a specific component to the original producer/supplier.
If the raw material supplier leaves the processor to submit the used raw materials under semifinished goods ● respectively parts ■ IMDS defines the processor as owner of the pure substance
▲.
This fact may have legal consequences as for complex components the product structure tree is not
representing the correct value added chain.
In case of product defect for instance if there are declarable or prohibited substances this could
cause consequences for a processor as the system declares him owner of the pure substance even
if this is not the case.
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As a consequence each supplier should submit all products that are delivered into the automotive
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industry under his company name and product code into IMDS.
Apart of the legal covering he thus may protect the recipe of his product as a detailed access in the
product structure tree is regulated strictly and limited to authorized persons only.
Additionally by this procedure the supplier is identified as supplier of the automotive industry by
IMDS which provides benefits in the supplier assessment.
1.6.2 The raw material – submission data / Material Data Sheets (MDS )
For raw materials the following information is relevant for the submission of data:

Name of producer product code, IMDS class of the raw material

Composition of the product by pure substances in percentage with CAS-number, EU-Index
number, hazard potential „D“/“V“, legal/regulatory requirements (if the substance is listed in
IRLS) as well as hazard limits

The sum of the pure substances (in percentage) must add to 100%.

For polymers the material short codes have to be provided according to ISO 1043.1 ("/" =
Copolymer; "+" = Blend).
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Attachment
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List of references:
Homepage „The international material data system IMDS“ (see internet addresses)
Homepage of the „EDS, Informationstechnologie und Service GmbH, Frankfurt“ (see internet
addresses)
Training documents „EDS, Informationstechnologie und Service GmbH, Frankfurt“ pdf document,
Version 2.2g, 041201 (73 pages)
Common information of GM / Fiat about IMDS as pdf document from 14.01.2001 (34 pages)
Guideline 2000/53/EG (see internet addresses)
Internet addresses:
The International Material Data System IMDS“: www.mdsystem.com
EDS, Information technology and Service GmbH, Frankfurt: www.eds.de
EUR-Lex, the Portal to european guidelines zum Recht der Europäischen Union:
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/de/index.html