Modified GC/MS system versus dedicated MS device: comparative application of electronic nose for QC in automotive industry

Continuously the automotive industry tries to satisfy customers expectation s in comfort requirements. To the traditional requests like visual or tacti le aspects, a new dimension appear to be an important criteria for customer 's choice: smell. Due to their manufacturing process and to their petrochem ical compounds based, many rubbers and foams used in automotive materials r esult in a "new car odour" mostly enjoyed but sometimes felt as unpleasant by customers. The present paper describes and compares two electronic noses (ENs) using mass spectrometry (MS) detector based on fingerprint MS to ana lyse these emitted compounds: an upgraded gas chromatography (GC)/MS using MSstat software and a dedicated device. Modified traditional GC/MS system a ppears to be an interesting alternative method to get chemical sensor devic e which provides results as good as the dedicated one. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.