Polymer formulations: Additives

Abstract

Polymer additives fulfill several functions, both in processing the material and in improving the properties of the product, and can act, for example, as antioxidants, light stabilizers, antistatic agents, flame retardants, or plasticizers. There are hundreds of chemical compounds that are currently used as additives in polymer formulations. However, some of them are currently under discussion because of toxicological and environmental issues. Identification and eventual determination of polymer additives is an important issue in many fields, mainly in the area of packaging materials where additive migration from food contact materials may have potential toxic effects in humans. International regulations require that pharmaceutical, biomedical, cosmetic, and packaging materials do not interact physically or chemically with their contents or environments. Direct analysis of additives in the polymer matrix is difficult due to the small amounts usually added. Chromatographic techniques, either on their own or hyphenated to powerful analytical detection techniques, have shown a great potential to determine and eventually identify many of these compounds. This entry analyzes the recent advances in extraction, sampling, separation, as well as detection methods for the identification and analysis of a variety of typical polymer and biopolymer additives.