Material Testing and Characterization

Synopsis

We can help meet all of your material testing and characterization needs. State-of-the-art polymer, composite and blend characterization techniques and equipment, a team of world-class analytical scientists, and the credibility provided by ISO-9001 certification as well as by GLP/cGMP (Good Laboratory Practices / Current Good Manufacturing Practices) registration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, are all available to clients of B&A from our strategic partner for analytical laboratory services. We provide our consulting expertise in working closely with you to ensure that the most appropriate tests are performed and that their results are interpreted and utilized as effectively as possible.

Please contact us now at (989)631-9237 or info@polymerexpert.biz or use our online form to discuss your material testing and characterization needs. The first consultation session is always provided free of charge.

If you prefer to learn more about our analytical laboratory resources before you contact us, please see the further information provided below regarding the available techniques and equipment.

Techniques

Mechanical properties: Many types of instruments and techniques are available for determining the mechanical and rheological properties of polymers. The properties that can be measured include tensile and toughness properties, time-dependent properties (such as stress relaxation), and solution and melt flow properties. The ability to characterize and thus elucidate the underlying causes of the fracture behavior of a specimen is often important in product liability lawsuits.

Thermal analysis: Many techniques are available to characterize the thermal and physical properties of materials; including glass transition temperature, crystalline melting temperature, percent crystallinity, specific heat, phase transition enthalpies, kinetic constants, degradation temperature, viscoelastic properties, percent weight loss, material softening temperature, and thermal expansion coefficient.

Microscopy: Various instrumental techniques are available. The magnification can range from x20 by optical microscopy or scanning electron microscopy to x500,000 by transmission electron microscopy. Specific determinations include the distribution of phases, melt and phase behavior, porosity, concentrations and average sizes of particles, size distributions of particles, crystallization kinetics, and fracture analysis.

Molecular characterization: Many instrumental techniques are available to determine the structure and identity of organic and inorganic molecules. Specific determinations include unknown identification, purity determination, functional group analysis, molecular weight, and polymer analysis.

Separation science: Various techniques, including quantitative and qualitative determination of materials, solvents, purity, homogeneity, molecular weight, and molecular weight distribution, are used to characterize mixture compositions.

Equipment

Mechanical Properties and Thermal Analysis:

TA Instruments DSC, TGA, TMA, and DMA.
Perkin-Elmer DSC and TGA.
Zwick mechanical testing device (compression, tensile, 3 point bend).
Carri-Med CSL 500 controlled stress rheometer.

Microscopy:

Leitz polarized light microscope.
Hitachi transmission electron microscope with digital imaging.
TopoMetrix scanning probe microscope.
Amray scanning electron microscope w/energy dispersive x-ray detector, sputter coater, vacuum evaporator coater, and cryoultramicrotome.

Molecular Characterization:

Finnigan 4500 electron impact (EI), chemical ionization (CI), and GC-MS.
Finnigan TSQ 700 high resolution electrospray and LC-MS.
Finnigan MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer.
Hewlett Packard 6890 gas chromatographs - Hewlett Packard 5972 and 5973 mass spectrometric detection.
Agilent liquid chromatograph with mass spectrometric detection.
Hitachi liquid chromatograph with mass spectrometric detection.
Nicolet 20-DBX FT-IR spectrometer (with Nicolet-Aldrich and Hummel libraries).
Nicolet NicPlan FTIR Microscope.
Varian 300 MHz NMR (¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁹F, ²⁹Si, 2D COSY, NOESY, HETCOR).
Cary UV-Visible spectrometer.
Shimadzu 5000A total organic carbon analyzer.

Separation Science:

Hewlett Packard 5890 gas chromatographs.
Varian 3400 gas chromatograph (with high speed capabilities).
Hewlett Packard 6890 gas chromatograph - Hewlett Packard 5972 and 5973 mass spectrometric detection.
Beckman System Gold ternary gradient HPLC.
Beckman System Gold capillary electrophoresis instrument.
Thermo-Separation Products modular ternary gradient HPLC.
Waters isocratic modular HPLC.
Agilent liquid chromatograph with mass spectrometric detection.
Hitachi liquid chromatograph with mass spectrometric detection.
Waters aqueous and organic size exclusion chromatographs.
Waters 150C high temperature size exclusion chromatograph.
Polymer Laboratories evaporative light scattering detector.

Other laboratory resources that can be deployed to help meet your material testing and characterization needs are available through our strategic partner for product research and development, as well as from a composite material testing laboratory with which we have partnered in order to best serve the specialized needs of our clients in the area of advanced composites. A powerful network of additional experts and laboratory resources, with a wide variety of other advanced techniques and equipment available, further enhances our ability to serve as a comprehensive Solution Provider for your polymer and composite material testing and characterization needs.