Indicator products and chromatographic fingerprinting: New tools for degradation state and lifetime estimation

The demands on polymeric products are growing both with respect to their function and purity. There is a need for new high-throughput characterisation tools for rapid quality control and evaluation of materials. Precise control over degradation rate and service-life are also prerequisites for successful use of degradable polymers in an increasing number of applications. The chromatographic fingerprinting and indicator product concepts, presented in the current paper, are novel and attractive alternatives for rapid evaluation of the product quality, degradability, durability and service-life. The sensitivity of these techniques allows for detection of small initial changes in the materials and signs of early degradation. The possible applications include evaluation of different pro-oxidants or antioxidants, optimisation of processing parameters, evaluation of long-term properties or storage stability and lifetime prediction. The same principal could also be applied to process control and monitoring, acceptance or rejection of raw materials, intermediate and final products. The usefulness of indicator products and chromatographic fingerprinting is shown for estimation of the degradation state of degradable polyethylene. in addition, chromatographic fingerprinting together with multivariate data analysis is utilised to classify degradable polyethylene materials based on their incorporated pro-oxidant systems.