Fully Automated Intrinsic Viscosity Analyser for Determination of Viscosity in Polymeric Materials

Polymer Char’s IVA – Intrinsic Viscosity Analyser- is a fully automated instrument for measuring the intrinsic viscosity in a wide range of polymeric materials from ambient temperature up to 200oC.

The whole process is performed without user intervention nor handling any solvents including filling of vials and dissolution of the samples, thanks to an autosampler with capacity of up to 42 samples. At the core of the IVA, a robust two capillary viscometer collects relative viscosity data from which intrinsic viscosity is derived. The stainless steel capillaries design is self-cleaning and self-calibrating, ensuring reliable and reproducible data. Furthermore, the instrument adds safety to the process thanks to the full automation, thus IVA becomes a practical and convenient alternative to manual or semi-automated methods.

IVA is compatible with typically used organic solvents such as decalin, tetralin, tri-chlorobenzene (TCB) and orthodichlorobenzene, among many others. Dissolution temperature and analysis temperature can be programmed independently from ambient to 200oC, meaning that a wide range of polymers, even most crystalline ones, can be analysed with convenience and safety.

The analysis of polyolefins and other polymers containing significant C-H content can be further improved by the incorporation of the optional Infrared detector IR4 to accurately quantify the injected polymer mass, which results in improved precision and accuracy of viscosity results.