Quality Control Instruments

The introduction of single-site catalysts and the use of multiple reactors in the polyolefins industry has opened new routes to design resins with the desirable microstructure to optimize performance in specific applications. This presents a greater challenge for quality control because the currently used parameters show only partial information of the resin microstructure.

Melt Index (MI) and density are common parameters in process control and product definition that represent average molar mass and average composition respectively. However, with today’s sophisticated industrial resins, these parameters are very far from defining resin performance. Polymer Char has developed a unique set of analytical techniques has been recently developed to detail additional parameters relevant to the resin performance.

Soluble Fraction Measurement

Measurement of the Soluble Fraction Percentage without the use of Xylene, and with additional information of Ethylene Content and Intrinsic Viscosity of the entire sample, the soluble fraction, and the crystalline fraction.

CRYSTEX^® QC

A reliable and automated instrument for determining the Amorphous Fraction in Polypropylene, developed for Quality Control laboratories

CRYSTEX^® 42

A high-throughput instrument for determining the Soluble Fraction in Polypropylene

Molar Mass for QC

GPC-QC delivers the complete Molar Mass Distribution for one sample through a simplified workflow, while keeping a fully automated sample preparation and an analysis free of manual solvent handling throughout the entire process. The complete analysis takes 30 minutes including dissolution.

GPC-QC

Simplified and fully automated GPC/SEC instrument aimed at quality control laboratories in polyolefin production plants

Intrinsic Viscosity

IVA is based on Polymer Char’s recently developed QC platform, which integrates, in a reduced footprint, a robust dual-capillary relative viscometer combined with a high-temperature autosampler with a capacity for 42 samples. IVA can analyze a wide range of polymers with IV values from 0.5dL/g up to over 40dL/g, such as polyolefins, PET, PAN, PMMA, and others, by using almost any organic solvent.

IVA for Polyolefins

A reliable and automated instrument to measure the intrinsic viscosity of polymers at high temperature.
Recommended for samples of the type Polyethylene and Polypropylene.