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Too Hot to Handle? |
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The problem: The thermal-oxidative stability of a polymer exposed to high temperatures set the stage for a multimillion-dollar courtroom battle. A client – the defendant in this litigation - contacted TechDirect to confirm their suspicion that a polymer material had undergone irreversible changes upon exposure to heat. The plaintiff asserted that the polymer was stable and sued the defendant for damaging their reputation in their side-by-side marketing comparisons. The TechDirect team compared the fresh and exposed polymers in order to test the polymer’s stability under conditions typically found in commercial application. |
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The methods: The TechDirect team used a multi-disciplinary approach to establish the stability of the plaintiff’s complex polymer blend, and if changes occurred, that they were the root cause of the field failures observed by the client. The techniques employed involved microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analyses, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, thermal analyses and measurements of molecular weight distribution by gel permeation chromatography. |
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The outcome: TechDirect’s multi-disciplinary attack on the problem provided the first irrefutable evidence that high temperatures produced permanent changes in the chemistry of the polymer. The polymer tests revealed the presence of a series of molecular level thermo-oxidative degradation steps in typical use conditions and dramatic changes in the molecular weight of the exposed polymer blend. Moreover, their analysis revealed lot-to-lot variations in the starting materials used in the plaintiff’s unexposed polymer, a fact not revealed previously. |
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For further information on ICI TechDirect's materials characterization services so that you can create your own success story, click here. |
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For further information, contact C. Michael Neag:
Voice: 440-826-5318
~ Fax: 440-826-5233
Strongsville Research Center (SRC)
16651 Sprague Road
Strongsville, Ohio 44136
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