Product Features and Benefits:

• Thermoset amino formaldehyde polymer.
• Inert fluorescent polymer, highly cross-linked for use in applications where the avoidance of swelling, bleeding, migration or plateout is desired.
• Highly Solvent Resistant: Allows for use in wide range of solvents without swelling or thixotropy.
• Highly Bleed Resistant: Excellent for PVC and other plasticizer applications.
• Broad Compatibility: Can be incorporated into formulations for a wide range of systems.
• Fine Particle Size: Particles exhibit excellent dispersability.
• Spherical Shape: Offers excellent light scattering/opacity and washability.
• Shelf Life: When stored in a cool, dry environment, FM-series microspheres have an indefinite shelf life. Containers should be kept closed to minimize contamination.

Other colors, sizes and grades of fluorescent spherical particles are available:
1-5um Fluorescent Polymer Tracer microparticles
Fluorescent Polymer Microspheres, Beads, Particles

Size: d50=1.5-2.0um, d95=3.5um, d99=5um
Density: 1.3g/cc
Composition: Proprietary Polymer
Softening Point: Decomposes at 290ºC
Maximum Processing Range: 225ºC
Color: Bright yellow under daylight and UV illumination (525nm peak)

Material Safety Data Sheet - Fluorescent Polymer Microspheres

Tests conducted through independent laboratories have found FM-Series Fluorescent Microspheres to be "essentially non-toxic." However, we encourage customers to perform their own assessments and determine adequacy of use for their specific applications.

Ogonowski, M., Schür, C., Jarsén, Å., & Gorokhova, E. (2016). The Effects of Natural and Anthropogenic Microparticles on Individual Fitness in Daphnia magna. PloS one, 11(5), e0155063. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155063

• Both small plastic fragments (microplastics, MPs) produced by degradation of larger plastic waste (secondary MPs; SMPs) and microscopic plastic spheres used in cosmetic products and industry (primary MPs; PMPs) are ubiquitously present in the environment. Scientists manipulated food levels (0.4 and 9 µg C mL^-1) and MP or kaolin contribution to the feeding suspension (<1 to 74%) and evaluated effects of MPs and kaolin on food uptake, growth, reproductive capacity of the daphnids, and maternal effects on offspring survival and feeding. As PMPs, spherical fluorescent, plastic beads ranging 1–5 µm with a mean of 4.1 ± 1.0 µm (mean equivalent spherical diameter, ESD) and a density of 1.3 g cm^-3 (Cospheric LLC, Goleta, USA) were used. Secondary MPs were prepared by grinding 1 mm fluorescent polyethylene beads with a density of 1.0 g cm^-3 (Cospheric LLC, Goleta, USA) in liquid nitrogen using a Retsch cryomill (Retsch, Düsseldorf, Germany).

Bringer, A., Cachot, J., Prunier, G., Dubillot, E., Clérandeau, C., & Hélène Thomas (2020). Experimental ingestion of fluorescent microplastics by pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, and their effects on the behaviour and development at early stages. Chemosphere, 254, 126793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126793

• Plastics are persistent synthetic polymers that accumulate as waste in the marine environment. Microplastics (MPs, <5 mm) can be found either as microbeads in body care and some industrial products or as plastic debris through degradation. Plastic microbeads (1-5 µm, fluorescent, Cospheric) were used to characterise the MP ingestion and determine their potential harmful effects on both the swimming behaviour and development of oyster D-larvae (Crassostrea gigas).

Gerdes, Z., Ogonowski, M., Nybom, I., Ek, C., Adolfsson-Erici, M., Barth, A., & Gorokhova, E. (2019). Microplastic-mediated transport of PCBs? A depuration study with Daphnia magna. PloS one, 14(2), e0205378. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205378

• The effect of microplastic on the PCB removal in planktonic animals was evaluated by exposing the cladoceran Daphnia magna with a high body burden of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB 18, 40, 128 and 209) to a mixture of microplastic and algae; daphnids exposed to only algae served as the control. The microplastics (fluorescent green microspheres, FMG-1.3 1–5 µm, a proprietary polymer with density of 1.3 g cm^-3 and a melting point of 290°C) was purchased from Cospheric.

Barboza, L., Vieira, L. R., Branco, V., Carvalho, C., & Guilhermino, L. (2018). Microplastics increase mercury bioconcentration in gills and bioaccumulation in the liver, and cause oxidative stress and damage in Dicentrarchus labrax juveniles. Scientific reports, 8(1), 15655. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34125-z

• The knowledge on the toxicity of mixtures containing microplastics and other contaminants to marine species is still scarce. The main goals of this study were to investigate the oxidative stress and lipid oxidative damage potentially induced by 96h of exposure to mercury (0.010 and 0.01mg/L), microplastics (0.26 and 0.69mg/L), and mixtures of the two substances (same concentrations, full factorial) in the gills and liver of D. labrax juveniles, and the possible influence of microplastics on mercury bioconcentration (gills) and bioaccumulation (liver). Fluorescent red polymer microspheres (1–5µm diameter) were used as microplastics particles and were purchased from Cospheric – Innovations in Microtechnology (USA). According to manufacturer indications, 1mg of the product contains about 1.836E+8 spheres (estimate made for an average of 2µm diameter).