Polymers and Plastics

Polymers and plastics are a growing source of customer complaints, because of their increased use in a wide range of applications.  RSSL's microscopy department uses (FT-IR) Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy as the principle technique to distinguish between a wide variety of plastic contaminants.  The spectra obtained are compared against reference data available in an extensive polymer library or in RSSL's own plastics database.

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) can also be used to characterise plastics in terms of melting point, degree of crystallinity and glass transition temperature.  In some cases this will differentiate between forms of the same polymer.

RSSL can:

• Distinguish between plastics, glass and crystalline materials

• Identify the composition and source of plastic fragments

• Distinguish, for example, high and low density polythene