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Identification of Unknown
Materials
Microbac Laboratories Inc. has extensive expertise and analytical capabilities to identify
unknown materials and substances.
In general, these investigations start with a client discovering some problem with a
product or process, whereby they are not obtaining the appropriate performance or
behavior. As they investigate within their systems what is not in specification or typical,
they find a material or substance that appears to be causative of the problem, but they do
not know what it is. They then come to Microbac for assistance in identification.
The following examples will be discussed in greater detail:
1. Electronic Device Manufacturer: A manufacturer of electronic devices experiences a
field failure within a product, and the product is returned for inspection.
2. Food Processor: A food processor discovers a contaminant within their product during
routine Quality Assurance testing.
3. Pharmaceutical Manufacturer: A pharmaceutical manufacturer replaces a filter on a
prescribed maintenance schedule, and upon removal of the old filter, finds black
particles.
Microbac approaches these problems in approximately the same way: the unknown
material is visually inspected, sometimes using optical stereo microscopy to better
understand morphology and homogeneity.
During this stage of analysis, scientists will perform one of two testing techniques, one
that is best for organic materials, and one that is best for inorganic materials. These two
techniques, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), are discussed in greater
detail below.
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) works by exciting chemical bonds with
infrared light and is best for identification of organic materials. The different chemical
bonds in this excited state absorb the light energy at frequencies unique to the various
bonds. This activity is represented as a spectrum (See Figure 1).
The spectrum can be expressed as % transmittance (%T) or % absorbance (%A) versus
wavenumber. The wavenumber of the peak tells what types of bonds are present and the
%T tells the signal strength. Low signal strength directly affects the resolution of the
peaks making sample size and preparation key for acquiring a quality spectrum.
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