Résumé : |
Hundreds of polymers are used in thousands of plastic applications, including shelter, transportation, and food and beverage packaging. As innovation expands polymer types and uses, formulations become increasingly complex. This is because new applications almost always require additives to produce performance properties (such as toughness, flexibility, conductivity and antistatic qualities) to match polymers to applications.
In addition, adding performance modifiers can cause changes in characteristics, including look, feel, color, adhesion, flammability or durability. Thus, formulators must add even more modifiers to compensate for these unwanted changes.
Processing characteristics (melt point, flow, density, mold release, etc.) often necessitate additional additives. One polymer line from one manufacturer may contain dozens of different additives or additive blends among the line’s individual products, depending on each polymer’s grade and intended use. Hence, identifying additives in polymer formulations is crucial to product formulation for performance, health, safety and cost of manufacture. It also allows for analysis of competitive products and investigating alternative technologies.
This article examines the use of LCMS-IT-TOF mass spectrometry to identify unknown additives in polymer formulations. |