We all know recycling is one of the most promising measures that can be taken to save our planet, but why is it not that easy? One of the major problems with recycled material is the skepticism in the quality thereof. It is therefore of paramount importance that a certain level of quality and trust is gained and maintained between the manufacturer and the consumer. One way, and certainly the best way, of approaching this important issue is by means of science. Yes your product might still be “within spec” even though it is not completely pure or slightly degraded, but this could result in substandard product performance and ultimately dissatisfied customers. If however, you can get insight into the degree of perfection at molecular level, offering a product with acceptable performance becomes easier.
There are various quick and easy analytical tools we can use to understand polymers at a fundamental level. One such technique is Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). DSC is basically a gauge to measure thermal transitions within materials. Probing for example the melting behavior can tell us a lot about the crystalline domains and therefore also shed some light on predicting a material’s performance. Sample impurities and polymer mixtures can also easily be probed by DSC. If one can obtain DSC measurements from pure samples, the information can be used to create a database. This database can in turn be used to determine how the recycled polymer differs from the neat reference polymer in a quality assurance manner. Comparing these thermograms allows for determination of a sample’s purity and heterogeneity. The purity can be determined by matching data with the database [see Figure 1]. The uniformity can be determined by observing the shape of the curve [see Figure 2].
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