About the use of IDENTIFY—a thermoanalytical database—for characterization and classification of recycled polyamides

Abstract

For some spectroscopic measurement techniques such as mass spectrometry or Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, online libraries have long been established. Those software-based libraries allow for comparisons of the measurement data with spectra collections archived in databases. Comparing own measurement values with literature or textbook data is an established procedure for the correct interpretation and final evaluation of the results obtained. In the field of thermal analysis, however, such library comparisons have been sorely lacking so far. This work presents the use of IDENTIFY for identification of polymers and also for classification of samples within a quality control procedure. A series of polyamides are therefore investigated using differential scanning calorimetry.