How to Calculate Plasticizer
- 1). Prepare and place the sample into your infrared spectrometer for analysis according to your instrument's standard operating procedure. Ideally, if the spectrometer you are using is equipped for attenuated total reflection (ATR), very little sample preparation is required as you can press almost any size sample onto the ATR crystal.
- 2). Acquire the infrared spectrum of the sample using the infrared spectrometer's computer-based software. Again, this step should be performed according to the analyzer's standard operating procedure. A popular method is to take multiple scans of your sample and have the software compile an average of all the scans.
- 3). Compare the acquired infrared spectrum of your sample against that of the plasticizer reference spectral library. Based on the various the infrared wavelengths, the library will return "best matches" to your sample.
- 4). Calculate the plasticizer content of your sample by noting the characteristics of the best match from plasticizer spectral reference library. For example, if you have a plasticized piece of polyvinyl chloride and the best match in the library is a reference spectrum with a 30% plasticizer content, you can calculate your sample to have 30% plasticizer content.
Source...