For the consumer the most obvious, visible quality criteria of a candle is its sooting behaviour whilst burning. Therefore, the development of a suitable method to determine the sooting behaviour is the main issue in the preparation of quality standards for candles. Methods used so far [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] could not be quantitatively evaluated, were not sufficiently reproducible or involved highly sophisticated technical equipment and were, therefore, only suitable for scientific investigations. This situation made the development of a method to measure the sooting behaviour of a burning candle necessary which is characterized by simplicity of execution, reproducible results and low costs. It should be possible to use this method during both product development and production control. It should be suitable for all candle types, except multi wick candles, for which sooting behaviour is a quality relevant issue.

The RMG 2.1 delivers precise measurement values according to RAL-GZ 041 and is also compatible with the new EU law, which will come up soon.