scope:

The first edition of this Technical Specification provides a method for the evaluation of the rinsing effectiveness of household clothes washing machines, washer dryers and commercial washing machine. The amount of residual detergent extracted from the unstained swatches of the strips used in the washing performance test is determined. This is accomplished by measuring the ultraviolet light absorbance at the wavelength particular to linear alkylbenzene sulfonate surfactant, a key ingredient of the detergent with a known linear relationship to the quantity of detergent mixture. Using a concentration versus absorbance curve developed as part of this procedure, the absorbance values can then be converted into detergent concentrations, which together with the test solution mass data, yields detergent quantities. The first edition is now widely used in many different laboratories, both manufactures and independent test labs. SWG01-08 received feedback that the test burden is very high, which increases the costs and lowers the ability to test many machines in parallel. With the second edition, it is planned to simplify the procedure to improve the output of this method and decrease the test costs.