CAMPUS (acronym for Computer Aided Material Preselection by Uniform Standards) is a multilingual database for the properties of plastics. It is considered worldwide as a leader in regard to the level of standardization and therefore, ease of comparison, of plastics properties. It also supports diagrams to a large extent. CAMPUS is based on ISO standards 10350, for single-point value e.g. the density, and 11403, for diagrams, e.g. the Stress–strain curve.
Contents
History
Standardization
In the 1980s, the European market for thermoplastics compounds was extremely confusing. On one hand, the number of supplied grades went up from 5,000 to 10,000, while on the other hand, more than 2,500 technical specifications were published alone by the German DIN that were dealing with plastics in general. Moreover, the citation of a testing standard alone was not sufficient, to exactly specify a test method let alone the question of sample preparation. Within the same period, personal computers became more widely available and were also used to collect plastics data. Many users, molders and material suppliers did that in parallel and completely independently, some using different scales of measurement. Therefore, the question arose how to compare such data.
For all these reasons, a DIN committee (DIN-Fachnormkreis) began in 1984 to create a list of preferred test methods for plastics testing (the so-called Grundwertekatalog, "Ground-values-catalog")) which should fulfill the following constrictions:
definition of sample preparation procedures for a small number of samples shapes;
selection of meaningful test methods with potential for international standardization.
In the European standardization community, the proposal was further developed under close cooperation with UK, France and West Germany (so-called "Tripartite-Forum") within ISO TC61/SC1/WG4 and finally published in 1990 as ISO documents 10350 and ISO 11403. In the years after, these two standards were revised several times, most recently in 2008 resp. 2003.
Software development
The early days
At the beginning of 1987, the process was discussed to speed-up the public awareness for the Grundwertekatalog by developing a unique database format for several raw-material suppliers. This idea was further being discussed within major supply companies of the time, such as BASF, Bayer, Hoechst and Hüls. They found more advantages:
fulfill the customer demand for comparable data
replace variety of brochures and datasheets with one database
accelerate update process
simplify material pre-selection for plastics (search function)
establish a single standard, even for other suppliers.
In March 1987, the first meeting was held between experts from these four companies in order to define the architectural needs for the database development:
easy access to database: which, at that time this meant a PC application distributed by floppy discs
easy user interface: self-explaining menus and a consistent helping system regardless of the material supplier
separate data records: the data maintenance shall remain the responsibility of each supplier
low cost: at that time this was an argument against a centralized client-server-architecture.
wide usability: IBM-compatible PCs fulfilled this item best; Multi language support was aspired
Grundwertekatalog
The Grundwertekatalog contains one part for sample preparation and a second part for processing, mechanical, thermal, electrical, optical and "other" properties. A further group describes the behavior against environmental conditions such as fire, water and humidity. All properties and samples are standardized in ISO 10350 as follows:
TPE-Properties
Beyond these single-point properties, CAMPUS offers the temperature-dependent stress-strain diagram for TPE grades.
Diagrams
The multipoint data included in CAMPUS are based on the International Standards for comparable multipoint data ISO 11403, Part 1 and Part 2.