What Is It?
  Many customers ask PDI to identify a material that is used in a competitive product, a new application, or as a raw material in a process. These materials can be simple substances or complex mixtures which require separation before analysis. Also, customers may want to know, quantitatively, the composition of that complex mixture.

PDI employs separation and identification technology which, for plastics and specialty chemicals, may include FTIR, NMR, GPC, X-RAY, ICP, SEM/EDX, and others
 
 
  My Product Is Not Competitive--Why?
  When marketplace pressure forces a client to understand more about his competition, PDI experts analyze and compare the products in question. The answers on cost position may be a combination of raw materials employed, process efficiency, or product design. Scientists and engineers at PDI examine the chemistry, the process engineering, and many other factors to help clients understand their competition more thoroughly.
 
 
  Why Doesn't My Product Perform In A Particular Application?
  If a polymer compound or composite is formulated correctly but the product suddenly fails to meet specifications, what could have changed? By examining the compounding process and the production process, PDI scientists can help determine why product failure suddenly occurs. By examining the mode of failure and the morphology of the failed part, we may be able to understand what has caused the change in behavior.
 
 
  How Can I Commercialize My Product Faster?
  Scientists at PDI have helped clients devise meaningful measurements of product performance, so the client can monitor changes in properties through designed experiments. We work with customers to understand the effects of formulation, processing, and production, and help determine the acceptable limits of variation. By looking at important features of polymers such as molecular weight, molecular architecture, residual monomers, and mechanical properties and morphology, we assist clients in bringing products to market faster.
 
 
  What Is The Useful Lifetime Of My Product?
  PDI scientists have developed mathematical models to predict how materials will perform under specific loads and correlate them with in-use performance. By examining creep and fatigue behavior, methods have been devised to use this information to model and predict lifetime performance of polymeric materials. By using accelerated weathering performance, PDI is capable of providing materials suppliers with valuable information on their products.
 
 
  Does My Product Bring Value To Other Materials?
  By helping raw-material suppliers devise test protocols, PDI assists them in understanding whether their additive will enhance the performance of polymer compounds. For example, impact resistance or fire retardance can be tested in a series of experiments where PDI can perform the compounding as well as include the mechanical, physical, and fire scientology.