Applications of Transmittance and Reflectance Micro/FT-IR to Polymeric Materials

Recent advances in FT-IR microsampling techniques have increased the specificity with which infrared spectra of microscopic samples or regions of microscopic samples can be obtained. In this paper, application of microsampling techniques to several problems involving polymeric materials will be presented. The technique using transmittance methods is shown to be a fast method for isolating two particles in a heterogeneous mixture and obtaining infrared spectra to conclusively identify the particles. The infrared absorption spectra of several layers of a multilayer polymer structure ranging in size from 8 to 50 μm are identified with the use of the technique. The surface of an imperfection in a painted polymer (approximately 150 μm diameter) is studied with the use of the infrared reflectance capabilities. These microsampling techniques prove useful and unique for specialized problems involving polymeric materials. The data obtained by the use of these microsampling techniques could not be obtained by “conventional” microsampling methods.