Here you can find questions and answers regarding IMDS content and usage in several categories. To see the content of each category and to read the answer to a question, please click on the category/question to expand the content.
You find OEM-specific IMDS documentation for suppliers in the Help category "OEM Specific Information" (no longer under FAQ).
Is there a limit for disclosing substances in materials?
According to Rule 4.5.1.B all basic substances in a material must be disclosed, either explicitly (visible or marked as confidential) or with a Joker/Wildcard. In materials with classification 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, or 9.x all substances are concerned whose concentrations are higher than 0.1 % (the standard threshold of GADSL) or which were intentionally added.
IMDS talks about homogeneous materials.
What is a homogeneous material?
In IMDS it is expected that every homogeneous material has to be described as a separate material. "Homogeneous" means that there is a consistent material composition which cannot be separated mechanically into two or more different materials. "Mechanical separation" here means that it is generally possible to separate materials by means of cutting, trimming and abrasion. Homogeneous materials are for example plastics, metals, alloys and coatings.
This can be shown using the example of a multiple coated screw.
Each layer on its own is defined as a "homogeneous material". This means that a screw [whose metal body is coated with a zinc alloy, followed by a passivation layer, finished by a 'top coat'] has four homogeneous materials: the body of the screw and three homogeneous coating layers.
A plated material is not a homogeneous material and needs to be represented as a semi-component or a component with multiple materials attached.
How do I request that the IMDS Committee publish a Standard
Material?
In the IMDS there are materials, defined with public norms such as ASTM, SAE, JIS etc., published as standard material MDSs and released by the IMDS Steering Committee. If you need a public material having a standard norm that is not on the list yet, you may send an email with the standards body and the norm to an IMDS Service Center.
The requested standard material will be compared with the standard material list and, depending upon the results of the analysis, added to the list for free. You should note that not all standards are publishable. For example, many SAE standards describe properties of the material and not the chemical composition. Additionally, not all standards bodies are supported by IMDS.
In FAQ category "Norms and Standard" are supported Norms/Standards listed.
What does "Confidential Substance" mean?
Substances that are: not declarable or prohibited according to GADSL, or are not an SVHC, do not appear on a Renault list, or do not require an application code may be marked confidential. These substances have a check box confidential in the detail section of the basic substance on the Ingredients page. If a substance is marked confidential, it may only be seen by users in the creating company and by “trusted users” in another IMDS company. All other users see is "Confidential Substances".
A user in another company is given “trusted user” status by the Company Administrator of the MDS-creating company. The MDS-creating company remains the data owner. Along the supply chain this information is only visible to these “trusted users”. It is not possible to transfer confidential substances via data download into in-house systems – not even by OEMs. It is not possible for users in other IMDS companies to make a copy of the tree and retrieve the actual data.
No substance that is flagged as D, P, or D/P can be marked confidential at the time of the material creation. No joker/wildcard can be marked confidential. There is no joker/wildcard "confidential substance" or "secret substance".
Are tape and film products homogenous materials?
Normally they are not. Tape and film products are entered in IMDS as semi-components consisting of e.g. an adhesive and foam layer. Exemption from this are tapes and films made from chemically cross-linked polymeric materials. Such tape and film products should be named “homogenous”.
Example:
Adhesive tapes based on polyacrylate should be named “PAKC homogenous adhesive tape”.
Is there a description on how to declare tyres in IMDS?
Under the REACH regulation glass is a UVCB substance (unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products or biological materials). It is virtually considered as a single substance and does not contain individual elements or oxides anymore. This approach will as well be used for IMDS entries of glass, ceramic and enamel. Declarable constituents and additives still have to be reported separately.
From now on all newly created entries for glass, ceramic and enamel must be described by using a single (pseudo) substance for the basic material, according to the new approach listed below. An additional functionality in IMDS (coming latest 2nd quarter 2014) will support the update of higher numbers of existing entries. If a change is impossible old entries still can be used.
