New instrument for polymer analysis

The British company Malvern Instruments has introduced a new member in its Viscotek gel permeation chromatography (GPC) range, designed to analyze polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene.

The difficulty in analyzing these polymers by GPC is that they first need to be dissolved completely, which requires temperatures of up to 160°C and toxic solvents. To address these challenges, the Viscotek high temperature GPC (HT-GPC) is fully-automated with excellent temperature control, and has been designed to minimize the risk of exposure to the toxic solvents.

With a triple detector configuration comprising refractive index, viscometry and low angle light scattering detectors, the Viscotek GT-GPC can generate information on molecular weight, molecular weight distribution and structural information such as the extent of chain branching.