Malvern's Viscotek gel permeation chromatography (GPC) system has helped materials researchers at Georgia University to understand the development, growth and behaviour of new polymer materials.
Work carried out by Prof Jason Locklin's multidisciplinary team has demonstrated that adding multiple detector technologies to a GPC is effective in the real-time investigation of polymerisation kinetics and macromolecular structure for both functional polymers and surface-initiated polymerisation.
Compared with other GPC systems, the Viscotek TDAmax delivered more detailed viscometry and light scattering data.
Locklin, of the university's Department of Chemistry and Faculty of Engineering, said: 'Molecular weight and molecular weight distribution [also called polydispersity] are the most important parameters in polymer science.
'We use the Viscotek TDAmax as a tool to monitor the progress of reactions and to evaluate the extent of control in the polymerisation reaction.
'When making new polymers, this information is critical to our understanding and tells us if the material is forming properly and if the chemistry is working.
'The real benefit of the Viscotek system is the online viscometry detection and light scattering.
'These capabilities provide so much more info than conventional measurements, allowing you to look for polymer structure and branching as well as molecular weight and polydispersity,' he added.
The Viscotek TDAmax is a GPC system - also referred to as a size exclusion chromatography (SEC) system - that includes refractive index (RI), viscometry and light scattering detectors, making it suitable for the characterisation of polymers.
