Evaluating Specific Manufacturing Processes

Plastics are manufactured using a wide variety of processes. To ensure appropriate manufacturing parameters are specified for each process, manufacturers need to understand the status of each material. For plastics, the material status varies for each manufacturing process and establishes which material properties need to be determined. Some evaluation methods that can vary depending on the material status and manufacturing process are listed below.

Evaluation by manufacturing process

 

Manufacturing Process Evaluation Category Evaluation Subcategory Instrument
Atmospheric Distillation (Component Separation) Component analysis, sulfur content   GC
Purification, Desulfurization, Hydrogenation     GC
Chemical Reaction, Pyrolysis     GC
Polymerization Polymer analysis Composition analysis FTIR, Raman, PY-GC/MS, MALDI
    Chemical structural analysis FTIR, Raman, MALDI, LC/MS
    Physical structural analysis FTIR, Raman, SPM
Adding Additives Additive component analysis Composition analysis of organic matter FTIR, PY-GC/MS, LC/MS
    Organic matter quantitative analysis PY-GC/MS, LC/MS, MALDI
    Inorganic matter composition analysis plus quantitative analysis EDX, ICP-OES, ICP/MS, EPMA
    Particle size measurement Particle size analyzer
Pelletization Molecular weight distribution   GPC
  Composition analysis   FTIR, Raman, PY-GC/MS, MALDI
  Structural analysis   FTIR, Raman, MALDI
  Ratio of each component in composition   TGA, FTIR
  Moisture content   Moisture analyzer
Molding Rheological evaluation Viscosity evaluation Capillary flowtester