Polymer Science and Technology

Polymer analysis

Contrary to many other quality assurance and control (QA/QC) techniques for raw materials, polymer analysis is a very comprehensive process. Typically, polymeric materials are composed of a number of monomers joined together by a chain of covalent bonds supported by an interconnected carbon atom "backbone." A monomer chain may have hundreds of thousands of monomers connected together. The fact that the underlying polymerization reactions, which are used to synthesis polymers and plastics, are exceedingly diverse and produce a correspondingly vast range of materials, further adds to this complexity.

Prior to performing polymer characterization, there are a number of parameters to consider. Some of the key criteria in advanced polymer analysis includes:

• Antioxidant analysis


• Pigment concentration


• Absolute/relative MW


• Percent of filler


• Additive quantitation


• Copolymer analysis


• Residual monomer concentration


• Crosslink density