The technique is well-suited to organic based materials.

At FORAY we use FTIR to test a wide range of materials - plastic, polymeric coatings, adhesives, fabric dyes and foreign contaminants in products.

We use the practice of Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) to examine specimens. Organic films on various substrates can be quickly inspected with little need for sample preparation.
 

FTIR examples

Figure 1:  Polymeric materials can be examined to determine if they have undergone curing. The red spectrum is uncured polyurethane coating compared to blue spectrum of cured polyurethane coating. The uncured material shows the presence on the unreacted isocyanate at 2273cm^-1.

Micro IR Spectroscopy of a dyed polyester fibre (below) separated from polyester cotton green fabric. Nodule like structures were identified on the fibre and studied for potential dye accumulation.

Figure 2: Microscopic image
 

Figure 3: IR spectroscopy of nodule (blue) and adjacent normal area (red) on polyester fibre. Note spectral differences in the region 1600-1750 cm^-1; 1200-1300 cm^-1.
 

Investigation of a foreign matter (white specks) in a reduced spread/ butter sample. Using identification by FTIR combined with elemental analysis and various other tests, it was concluded that white speck in butter was nitrogen containing compound, possibly, a protein.

Figure 4: Infrared analysis of the ‘white specks’ (red) and control (black) samples. Note differences in the frequency region of 1000 cm^-1 and 1500-1800 cm^-1. The peaks at 1625 cm^-1 and 1529 cm^-1 are indicative of presence of amide functional groups arising from protein type of foreign material.

Return to FORAY Laboratories