| Abstract Scope |
A clear trend of increasing complexity is observed in material science. This includes new materials incorporating natural ingredients and biodegradable or resorbable polymers. Even more traditional polymer formulations are finding new utility by the addition of new additives, inorganic fillers, plasticizers and processing aids. These new formulations place an increased burden on the analytical methods used for quality control and troubleshooting. To answer this challenge, a new generation of tools including improvements in mass spectroscopy (MS) and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) has been introduced with increased capabilities for tasks such as unknown identification and quantification. This talk is designed to review the use of these new tools and to demonstrate how they can be applied for quality control and problem resolution. Specific examples will be provided showing the use of these methods for unknown identification, vendor qualification, and material failure analysis. |