QC of polymers using NMR Relaxometry on the benchtop

Approaches to the quality control (QC) of polymers have developed dramatically over the past two decades. Manufacturers require faster, cheaper and more reproducible testing methods to assure the quality of their products and improve the economics of polymer manufacturing. This has resulted in the replacement of many old fashioned methods, particularly those involving wet chemistry, difficult and slow protocols, and methods which use hazardous or environmentally undesirable materials, such as many solvents. NMR relaxometry is one of the techniques that have become well established in the QA/QC laboratories of the polymer industry. In this paper, the technology of NMR relaxometry will be discussed with examples shown of how the technique can be used in place of the older methods around which many test standards were originally written.