Specialty chemicals, also referred to as effect or performance chemicals, are high value and often custom manufactured materials, which provide unique properties or performance effects to materials or formulations. Examples include specialty polymers, catalysts, elastomers, surfactants, fragrances, waxes, flocculants and rheology modifiers.
As the name implies specialty or performance chemicals are designed to provide some functional benefit or performance attribute to a formulation or product. To achieve this, it is necessary to use high performance analytical tools to characterize material or formulation properties.
Malvern Panalytical has a range of complementary technologies and solutions to assist development of exciting new products and to improve process and manufacturing efficiency. These include solutions for
- Phase identification and assessment of crystal structure in crystalline and semi-crystalline polymers and components
- Elemental composition and impurities determination, including catalyst and catalyst residues in many products
- Determining molecular weight and molecular structure of polymers and waxes
- Measuring the size of powders, emulsions and dispersions, from nanometers to millimeters
- Assessing flow properties, viscoelastic characteristics and material transitions such as melting and curing
- Evaluating component interactions, optimizing dispersion stability or promoting flocculation