By Pilar del Hierro (Polymer Char), Olivier Boyron (CP2M), Alberto Ortín, (Polymer Char).  

Fully Automated Instrument for Solution Viscosity in Polymeric Materials

Abstract

The determination of the solution viscosity of polymeric materials is very important to the industry, both to research and manufacturing, since it can be used to estimate molar mass, thus providing valuable information relating to the physical properties of polymers. The relative viscosity of a dilute polymer solution to that of the pure solvent itself is measured, and from this, the intrinsic viscosity of the polymer can be calculated. Due to the popularity of dilute solution viscosity measurements and the availability of those methods in many manufacturing laboratories, this method has been traditionally used to specify and to control production grades. The operation of a new fully automated instrument for determining solution viscosity is described in detail here. A series of applications are presented demonstrating the operation of this method, including for the first time water-soluble polymers (maltodextrins) and other ambient temperature soluble polymers (cellulose esters) in addition to other polymers requiring elevated temperature and organic solvents for dissolution and analysis (polyolefins, PET).

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