Publications Details
Micropyrolyzer design for infrared spectroscopy applications
Traditionally, pyrolysis combined with infrared, IR, detection of the decomposition products for the analysis of small (<1 mg) samples has been limited due to the size and geometry of commercially available pyrolysis chambers. To reduce the sample size requirements for pyrolysis-IR a system has been designed and built that allows various microgram sized polymer samples to be examined. The design incorporates a commercial pyrolysis system with a small chamber built from readily available parts. Minimal modifications of these components are required to build the system. The micropyrolyzer has been used to successfully identify various filled epoxy samples, such as three Epon 828 samples: 0.46 mg of alumina filled; 0.15 mg of mica filled; and 0.28 mg of glass microballoon, GMB, filled. 7 refs., 6 figs.