Determining Composition of Multilayered Bag Material

Techniques Used:  Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)& 

                                 Digital Imaging

The client presented a competitor's bag wanting to identify the materials used in construction and determine the thickness of each layer. The bag was mounted in epoxy and cross-sectioned. The photo below shows the layers observed. Using digital photography, width of each layer was taken in several areas and averaged to determine the thickness of each layer.

The various layers of the sample were then analyzed using both attenuated total reflectance (ATR) FTIR and mirco-FTIR. The spectra obtained from each layer were then searched against a library of reference spectra for identification.

      (Photos & FTIR Spectra to be added soon)