plastic GC research, help needed :)

[SterlingPower]

Hello all, I am currently doing some research on plastics and wondered if there was a US/GLOBAL standard for PET/E PE PP HDPE LDPE etc

I.e. that each bottle of coke or fanta would be of the same composition of plastics or a mix of the above plastics.

I am looking at GC of the bale plastics to work out the kind of gasses that maybe produced, and would like an indication of how many tests would be ideal,
I am assuming I will need to do a group of tests over a period of time to get an average, and the cost of CG, is it really as high a s 1-1.5k us dollars? that could get pretty spendy and if the standards are the same like an iso shipping container, then would GC tests on the various separate plastics really be worth it?

I look forward to hearing from those that can help

thanks

Sterling Power

 

[Pud]

GC? Gas Conversion?

http://www.tynevalleyplastics.co.uk

 

[SterlingPower]

No sorry,

Gas Chromatography

 

[patprimmer]

Each polymer is a unique chemical type by definition, however commercially available compounds contain mostly small amounts of additives like colourants and lubricants and stabilisers to tweak properties and improve mouldability.

Molecular weights change from grade to grade and even during processing.

Some are also co-polymers with various levels of substitution.

Most manufacturers are multinational and sell the same range worldwide, but certain markets have local preference, for instance, in Australia, PET beverage bottles are nearly always a co-polymer to increase toughness to accommodate the rocket bottom design.

There are no national standards that I am aware of for the raw materials. The standards are set by the manufacturers. There may be national standards for some applications, but not for materials in general.



Regards
Pat
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[Pud]

A lot of (if not all) packaging materials are multi-layered with assorted polymers. e.g barrier/cheap/printable layers.

H

http://www.tynevalleyplastics.co.uk

 

[SterlingPower]

I think I will need A gc/ms unit, could anyone give me an idea what the costs would be to do a test, I know they can be done in a matter of minutes, but have been told they are around 1-1.5k dollars which seems a bit steep personally,

Thanks

Sterling power