Plastics are ubiquitous in modern life, with thousands of uses from packaging and storage to functional and structural goods. As product designers and engineers expand the boundaries for these new products, the functional requirements of the polymers become more stringent. Small differences in the base polymer quality can have a significant effect on the final product.

NIR is used in the plastics and polymer industries for rapid, non-destructive analysis of polymer feedstock and final products. Parameters measured in polymers include OH Number, acid number, monomer content, amine value, density, viscosity, molecular weight, melting point and more.

Increasingly, NIR instruments are used in recycling applications to verify plastic types according to resin codes. This keeps the recycled plastic streams uniform and consistent allowing for the efficient and profitable re-use of plastic waste.

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