Aging and Chemical Resistance Testing of Plastic and Rubber Products

It is important to verify chemical compatibility of plastic and rubber materials to be sure the materials will perform properly in specific application. Materials are exposed to a variety of chemicals, temperatures, radiation, and mechanical stress.

There are methods available to assure the performance of a material before it is released. Of significant importance is the ability to not only assess chemical compatibility but also to accelerate the response of plastics and rubber materials to the chemical challenge.

And, if a material failure does occur in the field, analytical methods can reveal the root cause. For example, chemical resistance testing of pipe sections has been performed.
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Contamination Analysis

The surface of a plastic product, the interior of a rubber molded product, or a raw ingredient, process solvent, or additive may contain unintended chemical compounds. Contamination may cause functional problems, cause a product to look ugly, or be of no consequence depending on the amount and type.

Sensitive analysis methods, together with proper sampling techniques, can isolate and identify contamination. Armed with data, one can take rational steps to determine the source of the contamination and eliminate it.

For example, FTIR spectroscopy has been used to identify inclusions in molded products.
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Molecular Weight Analysis

The processing and end-use performance of plastic parts depends heavily on the molecular weight of the plastic itself.

Polymers inherently have a distribution of chain lengths resulting in a molecular weight distribution. Lower molecular weight chains help improve melt processing, while the higher molecular weight fraction can be critical to mechanical properties.

A variety of molecular weight analysis techniques specific to material type, industry served and information required are used at Polymer Solutions incorporated. We will help you choose the one that is right for you.
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Deformulation Analysis

Need to know batch-to-batch variations in raw materials? How about understanding the ingredients in a competitor's product? Worried about a possible patent infringement? What about a comparison of good vs. bad products? Let us answer these and other questions for you!

In one case, we deformulated a specialty protective coating.
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We bring you chemical analysis, physical testing and molecular systems information you can use to better understand how analysis may help you fully characterize the materials you work with!

• Aging and Chemical Resistance Testing
• Contamination Analysis
• Extractables and Leachables Analysis
• Molecular Weight Analysis
• Polymer Structure Analysis
• Deformulation Analysis
• Jay’s Cool Microscopy Pics of the Month

Packaging and medical products are two industries that have a high interest in understanding the extractable and leachable content of their materials. Some specific applications have government-required tests that must be performed to assure consumer safety. In other cases, a manufacturer wants to understand the behavior of materials in the operating environment.

Protocols are available to extract or leach chemical compounds from polymers, plastics, and rubber materials. And, sensitive and chemically-specifiic analysis methods are used to determine the identity and amount of extractables and leachables.

Elastomer tubing used in pharmaceutical manufacturing operation, for example, is tested for leachables.
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Polymer blends and copolymer systems are utilized in many industrial applications including medical implants, packaging, injection molded parts, adhesives, and coatings. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) can be used to analyze polymer samples, raw materials, and blends. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) provides highly detailed chemical structure information that can be used to enhance the FTIR spectral data sets.



Copolymer compositions and identifications of unknown polymers are accomplished using these techniques.
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