Crystallinity Determination of Nylon 66 by Density Measurement and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy

Polymer science represents an important area in industrial and research laboratories for chemists and material scientists. However, experiments involving polymers are uncommon in chemistry and material science curricula; therefore, an experiment involving polymers has been developed. This experiment has been used to teach fabrication of polymer films and to investigate the structure-property relationships of polymers using a multi-instrumental approach. It also introduces principles of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and how it can be utilized for polymer characterization. This experiment has been introduced successfully in a graduate-level instrumental analysis course in the chemistry department, but is also appropriate for an upper-level undergraduate course. It is simple to conduct in a teaching laboratory and utilizes commonly used instrumentation. Students gain hands-on experience in using multiple instruments. The experiment is designed to be completed in two to three weeks.