The secret to fast, flexible polymer crystallinity analysis

von Taco van der Maten, Friday, 18th October 2024

Polymer sheet

Kevlar and plastic are both polymers – yet, you wouldn’t trust a shopping bag to stop a bullet. So, what’s responsible for the very different physical properties of these two materials?

A crucial differentiating characteristic is polymer crystallinity: the extent of order and structure at the atomic level. If the atoms in a polymer are packed in a highly ordered, regular way, it will have very different properties from a polymer with an amorphous structure.

In both R&D and production, monitoring the crystallinity of polymers is crucial in producing materials and products with the desired physical characteristics, such as rubber tires that heat up and cool down appropriately.

What’s more, a versatile solution for this crystallinity analysis is also essential. New polymers are being discovered every year, growing the size of reference libraries and the materials researchers can experiment with. Read on to learn more about Malvern Panalytical’s future-proof solutions for polymer crystallinity analysis.

The challenges of polymer crystallinity analysis

Monitoring polymer crystallinity is a complex task. Polymers can have all sorts of solid-state molecular arrangements: amorphous, highly crystalline, semicrystalline, and nanocrystalline. But even ‘highly crystalline’ polymers will have a quantifiable amount of amorphous content when analyzed by an expert.

Optimizing polymer crystallinity is also a careful balancing act. For example, a higher proportion of crystallinity in the solid produces a harder and more thermally stable material – but it’ll also be more brittle. Amorphous regions, in contrast, provide elasticity and impact resistance, but if there are too many such regions in a tire, for instance, it won’t retain its shape!

Monitoring crystallinity therefore requires a technique that can keep up with the changes happening at each step of the production process, and that can provide reliable data for all kinds of materials and polymer structures.

The benefits of X-ray Diffraction (XRD)

XRD provides both this speed and flexibility. X-rays are used to probe the distances between atoms: this data can then be compared to reference databases to identify the polymers present and measure the extent of their crystallinity. If a sample from the process line shows more or fewer crystalline regions than desired, operators can fine-tune the next production steps to achieve the desired structure.

The technique doesn’t just support the production process. It also supports R&D initiatives, allowing researchers to delve into the structures of new polymers, or identify the crystallinity of natural materials to help design synthetic copies with similar structures.

It can also improve quality control. Rather than testing the elasticity of a material by stretching it, for instance, XRD can provide much more reliable and repeatable data concerning its structure, and whether it indicates the desired level of elasticity.

Our XRD solutions

Malvern Panalytical’s XRD offering includes two best-in-class XRD analyzers, the Aeris and Empyrean:

  • Aeris is a compact XRD system that is designed for versatility, high data quality, and reproducibility. It’s the perfect solution for lab managers, university professors, and manufacturing professionals who need to measure crystalline properties in a variety of sample types. With Aeris, users can enjoy the accuracy and capability of a large floor-standing unit, without the high cost of ownership or the need for specialized expertise.
  • The Empyrean system has been designed for state-of-the-art data quality, including the much more demanding hard radiation applications. It’s the only platform that does it all, delivering the best data quality on every sample type. Indeed, it covers the largest set of X-ray diffraction, scattering, and imaging applications in one single instrument.

Both these instruments provide a crucial feature for polymer characterization: they are designed to be easily modified with hardware attachments and new software. For instance, Aeris’s modular build enables the easy addition of attachments and add-ons, and the Empyrean’s PreFIX concept allows users to switch between different configurations without laborious re-alignment procedures, achieving unrivaled flexibility.

This flexibility also supports greater sustainability: with issues such as microplastics a growing concern, there’s no telling how polymers will need to be screened in the future to prevent environmental damage. Future-proofed XRD instruments will be at the ready for these new analytical processes, giving deeper insights into polymers’ environmental impact.

If you’d like to learn more about our XRD instruments, please contact our experts.

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