Analyzing Various Plastics —Benefits of Bundled KnowItAll Software—

User Benefits

- FTIR spectrophotometers are analytical instruments that are useful for determining the composition of microplastics and recycled plastics. - KnowItAll database software can search for multiple components in mixtures or analyze functional groups at specific peaks. - With a single click, optional KnowItAll bundle can automatically receive data from FTIR control software for quick spectral analysis.

Introduction

There is a great variety of plastic products being used all around us. Plastics are lightweight, strong, and easy to process, but they cause a variety of problems throughout the world. For research into solving the challenges of microplastics and recycled plastics, it is first important to determine the types of plastic materials involved. Of the many analytical instruments used to analyze plastics, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometers are especially popular because they can analyze plastics easily without complex pretreatment steps, such as dissolving plastics in a solvent. This article describes using John Wiley & Sons, Inc. KnowItAll software for plastic analysis. KnowItAll has an extensive library for a wide variety of data analysis, such as searching for multiple components to identify and determine the percentage of chemical components contained in plastics or identifying functional groups attributable to specific spectral peaks (partial structural analysis). Furthermore, KnowItAll is bundled with Shimadzu LabSolutions IR software for FTIR analysis and AMsolution infrared microscope software. Clicking the [KnowItAll] button in the Shimadzu software automatically sends the active spectral data to the KnowItAll software, ensuring quick analysis.

January 6, 2025 GMT