From October 21 to 23, 2013, the ISO/TC 206 Standards Committee held its 20th Annual Standards Technical Meeting in Tokyo, Japan. China Building Materials Test and Certification Group Co., Ltd. (CTC) dispatched international standard development experts—Bao Yiwang, Chief Scientist of the Research Center, and Dr. Wan Detian, Deputy Director of the Research Center—to attend the meeting. They fully exchanged views with experts and scholars from member countries of the ISO/TC 206 Standardization Technical Committee on two international standards under their responsibility and issues of mutual interest. The countries attending the meeting included nine permanent member countries (P-members): Belgium, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom, and three observer member countries (O-members): Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

At the meeting, Dr. Wan Detian of the CTC Research Center reported on the progress of the international standard Test Method for Elastic Modulus and Strength of Ceramic Tubes or Rings — Notched-Ring Method (ISO/TC 206 WD 18558). The standard addressed the questions raised by the expert group and smoothly advanced to the CD stage. This international standard was formally approved as a project after its proposal was submitted in June 2012. Its basic principle is to process ceramic tubes into notched-ring specimens; by applying a compressive load to the notched-ring specimen, the elastic modulus and strength of brittle materials can be measured simultaneously. The method is simple to operate and requires no special fixtures, solving the technical difficulty that ring-shaped or tubular ceramic materials cannot be tested for modulus and strength because they cannot be processed into standard specimens. Experts from Germany and France suggested that the project provide more references and comparative tests. The international standard is advancing toward the DIS stage.

The international standard newly approved in 2013, Test Method for Elastic Modulus and Strength of Thick Ceramic Coatings (No. NP1305), was discussed in the WG10 Ceramic Coatings Working Group. Bao Yiwang, Chief Scientist of CTC, reported on the standard overview and compared and debated it with the draft standard Test Method for Elastic Modulus of Thermal Barrier Coatings proposed by Japanese experts. After expert demonstration by the Advisory Committee of the ISO/TC 206 Standardization Technical Committee, it was considered that the standard technology proposed by China is original and universal, and papers had been published internationally with sufficient evidence; therefore, it was directly submitted for discussion and voting and obtained approval as a new international standard project. The basic principle of the method uses the proprietary technology proposed by the CTC Chief Scientist—an indirect measurement technology called the “relative method.” By using the difference in deflection values of samples under load before and after coating, the elastic modulus and strength of coating materials are obtained through quantitative calculation. This method solves the technical difficulty that the modulus and strength of ceramic coating samples cannot be accurately measured because the coating cannot be effectively peeled off, and also provides a new approach for modern measurement technology. In addition, the intention to propose an international standard titled Method for Testing High-Temperature Elastic Modulus of Ceramic Coatings by the Excitation Relative Method was put forward at the meeting and recognized by attending P-member and O-member experts, with a plan to propose one new international standard during 2014.

The ISO/TC 206 General Assembly ultimately formed a meeting resolution document, and representatives of the 12 participating countries unanimously adopted a total of 38 resolutions. Among them, Resolution 16 was to establish a TC206 working group to assist the Chairman and Secretary-General in reviewing document clauses and Advisory Committee membership, with Professor Erauw of Belgium as the leader and Professor Bao Yiwang of China, Professor Hormazabal of France, Professor Rehmer of Germany, Professor Uematsu of Japan, Professor Hyung MiLim of South Korea, and Dr. Wan Dung Teng of Malaysia as members.

Resolution 23 confirmed the formal approval of the new proposal TCNP1305 (Test Method for Elastic Modulus and Strength of Ceramic Coatings) as an international standard project. The project member countries are China, Indonesia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Malaysia; the project leader is Bao Yiwang of China; the project belongs to the Ceramic Coatings Working Group WG10, whose leader is Professor Rehmer of Germany.

The CTC international standard project team will, as always, continue to work hard, strive to develop more international standards led by China, and improve China's status, competitiveness, and innovation capability in the field of international standard formulation and revision.