Polymer Identification

ARDL’s Chemical Services Laboratory capabilities include Polymer Identification utilizing FTIR to assist customers with identifying the base polymer in their compound for quality control and/or competitor material identification.  There are two major ways to identify the polymer using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), by the examination of pyrolysis products or cast films.  In either case the sample is extracted with an organic solvent to remove the organic additives (plasticizers, antioxidants, antiozonants, waxes, etc.) and purify the polymer.  In the case of pyrolysis, the polymer is thermally degraded and the resulting pyrolyzate is examined using infrared spectroscopy.  If a cast film is desired, usually a must when attempting to identify polymer blends, then the extracted polymer is dissolved in a suitable solvent, filtered, and cast on either a potassium chloride or sodium chloride plate and examined using infrared spectroscopy.  The resultant infrared spectrum is then compared to known reference spectra that have been generated at ARDL to identify the polymer or polymer blend.