Method · FTIR
Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
Infrared-active molecular vibrations used to identify functional groups and compare materials or residues. What it answers, what it cannot establish on its own, what a laboratory will ask, and how many Dutch, Belgian and German facilities publish it.
What it answers
- Which organic compounds or functional groups are present — a polymer, an oil, a release agent?
- Has a polymer oxidised, degraded or changed its cure state?
- What is an unknown organic residue on a surface, when there is enough of it to measure?
What it cannot establish alone
- Determine elemental composition or detect every material or vibration; the measurement requires infrared-active absorption.
- Guarantee detection of a thin or dilute residue. Sensitivity depends on sampling mode, substrate, material and background.
- Uniquely identify all components of a mixture from overlapping bands or a library match alone.
- Give a degree of cure or concentration without appropriate chemistry, reference measurements and calibration.
Before you contact a laboratory
What a laboratory will ask.
A laboratory can say whether it can help only when these are known. Unknowns are fine; say so.
- Material or suspected residue, and whether the aim is identification, degradation, contamination or cure comparison.
- Sample form, substrate, approximate film thickness or amount of residue, and the area available.
- Surface or bulk information, and whether contact, extraction or other preparation is allowed.
- A clean reference, known material or reference spectrum; for quantification, suitable calibration samples.
A question a laboratory can answer
An oily film appears on moulded polymer parts after storage. We want to know whether it is a plasticiser, a release agent or a lubricant, comparing an affected part with a clean one.
Potential Dutch, Belgian and German facilities
59 facilities publish FTIR capability in Aachen, Dresden, Ghent, Hamburg, Nijmegen, Rudolstadt, Antwerp, Aschaffenburg, Augsburg, Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Berlin, Bochum, Brandenburg an der Havel, Braunschweig, Brussels, Coburg, Darmstadt, Denkendorf, Deventer, Diepholz, Emden, Freiberg, Freiburg, Fürth, Geisenheim, Geleen, Greifswald, Groningen, Hannover, Heidelberg, Hof, Ilmenau, Jena, Leipzig, Lemgo, Louvain-la-Neuve, Mainz, Mittweida, Mons, Namur, Noordwijk, Oberhausen, Offenburg, Paderborn, Potsdam, Schmalkalden, Sonneberg, Vianen, Weißandt-Gölzau, Wildau and Wismar.
Leads are based on published capabilities; current suitability and availability must be confirmed with the laboratory.
Describe your sample and question. The first answer is free and needs no account; laboratory names are shown in a free workspace.
Often combined with
- Raman spectroscopyMolecular, vibrational, phase, and stress information from Raman scattering.
- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopyElemental composition and chemical state of the near-surface region, optionally with sputter depth profiling.
- Differential scanning calorimetryThermal transitions such as glass transition, melting, crystallization, and cure.
Problems where it helps
- Surface contamination: identifying what is thereWhich surface-sensitive measurements identify a residue, oxide or trace contaminant, what each cannot see, and what to prepare.