Top 10 Producing Polymers to Plastics Articles

We’ve covered a lot of subjects in this blog, from plastic pipes for oil and gas, to plastic materials for Halloween masks to rubber tires on bikes and cars, to fiber-reinforced polymer composites for modern art and architecture, to adhesives, shampoos, vinyl records, and everything in between.

If you are involved with polymers and plastics analysis and work with FT-IR, ATR, NMR, XRF, or other analysis techniques, you might have found an article that inspired you to think big. In case you missed a few articles this year, here are our top ten articles by number of views this year.

1. Polymer Profiles: A Guide to the World’s Most Widely Used Plastics
Learn about Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), and Polypropylene (PP).

2. Plastic and Polymer Problems? Check The Symptons – Part 1
Here are some techniques and applications used to analyze polymers for product quality assurance and quality control verification, failure analysis, deformulation, and product development.

3. The Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) Technique for Analyzing Plastics
Used as an accessory to an FT-IR instrument, ATR is ideal for strongly-absorbing or thick samples which often produce intense peaks when measured by transmission.

4. The Use of Plastic Pipe in the Mining and Oil and Gas Industries
Oil and gas companies and mining companies seeking cost cutting measures may be considering high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe as a money-saving alternative to steel pipe.

5. Polymer Composites vs. Steel: The Race to Dominate the Automotive Industry
The auto industry is using plastic and polymer composite materials to reduce the weight of the vehicle and thereby provide improved fuel economy, as well as improved safety and performance.

6. Characterizing the Processing Behavior of PVC Dry Blends (Lab Mixer Reproducibility)
To check the reproducibility of mixer tests, five tests were done under the same conditions, using the same PVC dry blend.

7. Analysis of Traces in Polymers Using Sequential X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometers
The performance of a Sequential X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer for the analysis of trace elements in polymers was tested by measurement of a series of polypropylene (PP) standard samples.

8. Characterizing the Processing Behavior of PVC Dry Blends
Hundreds of different kinds of plasticizers can be added to PVC blends to soften the product, the most common of which are phthalates and adipates.

9. Determination of Phthalate Esters in Soft Drinks
Phthalate esters are esters of phthalic acid and are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity).

10. Catch My DRIFTS?
DRIFTS is commonly used for the analysis of both organic and inorganic samples that can be ground into a fine powder (less than 10 microns) and mixed in a powder matrix such as potassium bromide (KBr). Hard polymers and rigid polymers are typically analyzed using the DRIFTS method.

Accelerating Science was designed to provide informative, thoughtful, and interesting stories about the scientific discoveries that fill the space between scientific journal articles and general news pieces. Comment below and let us know if there are any subjects you would like to see written about in the coming year.