Webinar – Thermal Analysis of Biopolymers
"Thermal Analysis of Biopolymers" Presents Techniques Used to Characterize Biopolymers
Thermal analysis can be used to investigate biopolymers. Biopolymers are materials which are biological based or biological degradable or both of them.
The most important physical properties measured are the glass transition, crystallization and decomposition temperatures.
The four main techniques of thermal analysis, DSC, TGA, TMA, and DMA can be used to characterize polymers as a function of temperature over a wide temperature range, from –150 to 1600 °C.
In this Webinar, we will show how thermal analysis is used to investigate biopolymers and present some typical examples of samples measured by DSC, TGA, TMA or DMA.
In the webinar titled "Thermal Analysis of Biopolymers", we describe a number of techniques and methods that can be used to characterize the physical properties of biopolymers.
What is a biopolymer?
The terms biopolymers and bioplastics are not precisely defined and are often used differently. Frequently, the two expressions are used to mean plastics from bio-based raw materials, or to mean biologically degradable plastics. Many biopolymers satisfy both points.
With bio-based plastics, the main focus is on the source of the starting material, namely renewable raw materials in contrast to fossil petroleum oil. Not all bio-based polymers are biodegradable.
Biodegradable plastics are a source of food and energy for microorganisms and are decomposed through the metabolism of microorganisms or their enzymes to form carbon dioxide, water and biomass. These polymers are not necessarily produced from renewable raw materials.
Thermal analysis of biopolymers
The most important effects that can be analyzed by DSC are the glass transition, melting, crystallization behavior, reaction enthalpies and kinetics, and the influence of fillers.
For TGA, the main applications are content analysis and thermal stability.
TMA is normally used to study the expansion or shrinkage of materials.
DMA is the best method for characterizing the frequency-, force-, and amplitude-dependent mechanical behavior of materials.
