MATERIALS | TESTING
Right: Increased use of recycled resins means additional testing to manage inherent variability
and measuring the amount of recycled polymer that has been added,” says Malcolm Beckett, Senior Experimental Scientist & NMR Specialist at Intertek Wilton.
“It may be possible to measure masterbatch composition using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) if all constituents are known, it is soluble, and the constituents can be detected; however, it cannot measure recycled polymer content,” he says. “Currently, the industry does not have methods to identify or measure the amount of recycled material in a product. This is mainly because, for example, polyethylene ‘looks’ like polyethylene to techniques traditionally used for identification such as NMR, regardless of whether it is recycled or virgin polymer. Further research is required to fully understand the impact of polymer quality on recycling. For example, how many times can a polymer be recycled before it is unfit for purpose?” Haarmann adds that another challenge in analysis of recycled products is making a comparison with virgin materials - it is known that recyclate can vary according to origin and cleaning processes, for example. This applies to both the physical and mechanical properties, as well as the chemical safety where the materials could include potential hazardous impurities that may migrate out in particular use scenarios.
Pandemic effects Covid-19 is also driving new developments in polymer analysis. Mason says that an interesting result of the pandemic is that it has brought together new groups of stakeholders with different expertise. She cites, for example, engineering companies, materials specialists and testing experts that may have been pulled together to solve problems related to supply and production of critical polymer components for products such as respirators or PPE. She says these new networks are playing a key role in ongoing innovation and partnership in the polymer sector. In general, Covid has demonstrated that more
flexibility and agility in polymer supply chains is required, according to Haarmann. She says having a Plan B covering materials and suppliers has become more important than ever before, particularly across the automotive, packaging and medical devices sectors. A core part of an agile supply chain is the ability to be able to deliver materials which meet the required specifications, which she says is simpler when working with polymer testing partners that can drive insight into material evaluation and validation with application- specific knowledge. As a consequence, many
26 COMPOUNDING WORLD | January 2022
organisations are using strategic outsourcing of laboratory services to help them remain competitive. Recycling certainly ranks high among
opportunities for new solutions in polymer analysis. “Considering materials where post-consumer recycled content (PCR) has been incorporated, new analytical approaches are required to help understand how long these new materials can be kept in productive use,” says Mason. “These approaches could drive insight into how many times they can be recycled whilst still meeting performance specifications and criteria for quality and safety. This is a challenge that is further compounded by the fact these materials may not be produced consistently of the same quality.” Haarmann says another question regularly asked by potential clients is how ‘processable’ is a particular recycled compound. She says Intertek has developed programmes to assess if materials can be processed by injection moulding, cast moulding, or as blown films that include subsequent evaluation of key physical and mechanical properties. Such studies can help drive insight into the recycling process and the functional properties of the recycled materials and support decision-making on end-use applications. Other key areas of development in polymer analysis include increased digitalisation and the use of big data and modelling techniques, according to Haarmann. “Enabling production continuity, meeting compliance with environmental legislation such as stack emissions and wastewater, as well as ensuring value of feedstocks and polymer products are all areas which can benefit from big-data tools and process-analytical technologies,” she says. “Analytical technologies are improving, and this
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
