The 'smell' of car interiors

When the car opens the door to get on the car, there will generally be a "special" smell, especially a new car, or in the hot summer, after the sun exposure, the "special" smell will generally be particularly large, often called "new car smell".

The previous article talked about the automotive interior VOC

So, is the smell the same as the VOC?

Smell and VOC are not the same, but there is a lot of overlap between the two. Smell is the smell emitted by the material, the smell that people can smell, and the standard of smell is strongly connected with people's senses, and the subjectivity is very strong. The VOC is a volatile organic compound, and its amount is required for precision measurement by the instrument. The smell can be smelled by the nose, and VOC will quietly exist around us even if it is not smelled.

But in many cases, the two are closely related. General odor comes from VOCs, and VOCs generally produce odor in many cases. However, there is no necessary relationship between the two, and they cannot be equated and generalized.

# Odor test method

Generally, a certain sample is collected, placed in a closed container, treated with humidity and temperature under certain conditions, and then the smell of the sample in the container is evaluated by a professional odor tester.

The final audience of the smell is the person itself, so the evaluation of the material smell is not determined by the equipment test, but by the smell tester. Although the odor testers are strictly selected, there are still sensory differences among individuals, so the odor assessment has a certain subjectivity.

# Odor rating standard

About the material odor grade standards, each Oems have their own standards. For reference:

再以德國的VDA270為例，也是汽車行業參考比較多一個標準，具體等級評定標準如下圖：

According to different products and materials, the general requirements are that the odor level is less than 3-4, and different parts will have different standards.

Now the automotive industry is more and more stringent requirements for automotive interiors, lower odor, less VOC, more health considerations; Therefore, when selecting accessories, low-odor and low-VOC materials will undoubtedly become the first choice and focus of the market.

In the future, we will continue to discuss with you some solutions on odor or VOC, please pay attention.