Shimadzu Scientific Instruments has introduced a new Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrophotometer plastic analysis system. The system uses Shimadzu’s IRSpirit™ FT-IR spectrophotometer, QATR-S single-reflection ATR attachment and the Plastic Analyser Method Package. The Plastic Analyser method package includes FT-IR spectral libraries for plastics degraded by UV rays and heat. These libraries help investigators accurately analyse unknown samples that are difficult to identify with standard libraries. The UV-damaged plastics library includes more than 200 spectra from the UV degradation of 14 types of plastics, unirradiated and UV irradiated for 1–550 h. UV irradiation for 550 h with an ultra-accelerated weathering tester is equivalent to exposure to ultraviolet light for about 10 years. The thermal-damaged plastics library includes more than 100 spectra from the degradation of 13 types of plastic heated to between 200 °C and 400 °C.
