Page 42 - Engineering Plastics Handbook

16 Introduction

Polymer Characterization [6]
Includes:

1. Polymer architecture
■ Atomic force microscopy, e.g., crystal structures.
■ Electron microscopy.
■ X-ray diffraction, e.g., crystal structures.
■ Optical microscopy.
2. Determination of MW by dilute solution viscosity
■ Dilute solution viscosity. Dilute solution polymers typically have a
dilute solution viscosity greater than 0.1 dL/g. Dilute solution vis-
cosity measurements are used for initial characterization.
■ Viscometry.
■ Gel permeation chromatography.
3. Chain structure
■ NMR spectroscopy.
■ IR spectroscopy is a practical method to obtain data from thin film
specimens.
4. Thermal transition
■ Thermal microscopy.
■ Differential scanning calorimetry. DSC is used to obtain the glass
transition temperature, but not the melt points, for amorphous
polymers. Melt points are created in the crystalline segment of
semicrystalline polymers.
5. Polymer degradation
■ Differential thermal analysis.
■ Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).
■ Chemical hydrolysis and viscometry.

References

1. Anne-Marie M. Baker and Joey Mead, “Thermoplastics,” in Handbook of Plastics
Elastomers and Composites, Charles A. Harper, ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y.,
USA, 2002.
2. Dr. Carl C. Wamser, Portland State University, Chemistry Department, Portland, Ore.,
USA, 2000.
3. Polymerization Chemistry, Tangram Technology Ltd., Hitchin, Hertfordshire, UK,
2000.
4. University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Polymer Science, Hattiesburg,
Miss., USA, 2004.
5. Dr. Roger Hester, University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Polymer Science,
Hattiesburg, Miss., USA, 2001.
6. Koichi Hatada, Tatsuki Kitayama, and Otto Vogl, eds., Macromolecular Design of
Polymeric Materials, Marcel Dekker, New York, N.Y., USA, 1997.