Added
value
to your
innovation
Added
value
to your
innovation
Services
PTG/e can be an extension of your in-house R&D. Whether it is contract research or simply the analysis of a material, you can count on us for professional support. We take a pragmatic approach, which translates into short communication lines internally and regular contact between our researchers and the customer. In this way we can monitor project progress and steer the process as needed.
Our services include organising postdoc-level open courses. And thanks to our large network of lecturers, we are also able to offer (in-house) courses tailored to your specific needs.
Research & innovation
Need an experienced partner to complement your in-house R&D from time to time? For example when you are short of capacity or do not have the necessary material expertise in house?
PTG/e is fully equipped to take on a variety of tasks.
Also for shorter term projects, PTG/e is your partner. Comparison of raw materials, material identification or a quick literature scan – these are just a few of the services that PTG/e can perform for you.
Courses
With access to a wide network of (own) experts in many areas of chemistry, PTG/e is excellently placed to help you expand your knowledge of polymers. We are organizing customized company specific courses, as well as open PTN courses.
Publications
Coating Glossiness: From Mirror to Matte
Coatings do more than protect surfaces from moisture, UV rays, and chemicals. They also shape how things look and feel. From the soft glow of a wooden table to the mirror-like shine of a polished car, gloss levels add personality to surfaces. Thanks to modern advances, coatings are now tougher, greener, and more efficient.
Glossiness is one of the most noticeable features and can be fine-tuned by adjusting surface texture. A smooth, particle-free coating reflects light like a mirror. Add tiny particles, and the surface scatters light, giving a matte look.
While we often judge gloss by eye, tools like gloss meters can assign exact values to surfaces, higher numbers mean more shine. For example, we measured two glass plates with a matte and high-gloss coating to show just how different they can be. The difference in glossiness is obvious, both visually and numerically, as shown below.
Another way to measure the glossiness of a surface is to make a 3D surface profile created by optical profilometry. The image below shows a matte coating over a 300 × 300 μm area, where larger surface features — caused by particles in the coating — result in a roughness of 200 nm.
The same measurement is then performed on a high gloss surface, which can be seen in the picture below. When comparing both pictures, it is immediately clear the high gloss surface is visibly much smoother, compared to the matte coating. The high gloss surface roughness is just 4 nm, which is significantly lower than the matte gloss lacquer, as shown in the profile below.
These examples show how advanced tools like optical profilometry help tailor coatings to specific needs. At PTG/e, we offer precise surface profiling to support your projects, contact us to learn more!
The Scent of the Season: A GC-MS Exploration
The holiday season is filled with traditions, like putting up a Christmas tree in your house. This fills our living rooms with the pine aroma we are all familiar with. While our noses can identify this characteristic pine scent, we were wondering if we can uncover the chemistry behind it by using advanced analysis techniques. Therefore, we collected some resin from our Christmas tree and analyzed it with Gas Chromatography combined with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS).
GC-MS is a powerful analytical technique used to identify and quantify chemical compounds in unknown mixtures. This process separates the components in a sample based on differences in their boiling points and their interaction with the GC column. When the compounds leave the column, they are analyzed by a mass spectrometer which breaks them up into fragments. The fragmentation pattern is collected into a mass spectrum, which is unique for each compound. It can therefore serve as a molecular fingerprint. By comparing these mass spectra to compounds in databases, the chemical structures of the components within the resin can be identified.
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Figure 1: Chromatogram of the analyzed pine tree resin, showcasing the characteristic signals corresponding to the identified compounds.
Through this analysis, we identified three compounds from Christmas tree resin: pinene, phellandrene, and bornyl acetate. These structures are also known as terpenes and their molecular structures, together with the chromatogram, are shown in Figure 1. Behind each peak in this chromatogram is a mass spectrum that was picked up by the mass spectrometer which we used to identify these three compounds. These specific terpenes are naturally produced in the resin and are responsible for the characteristic scent of pine trees. Due to their relatively small molecular size and volatile nature, these compounds readily evaporate when the resin is exposed to warmth or light. This is the fragrance we are smelling which is reminiscent of forests or the warmth of Christmas.
To summarize, GC-MS helped us to unveil the science behind the scent of Christmas. Beyond this festive application, this powerful analytical tool serves as a versatile technique for the composition of a wide variety of unknown samples in a quantitative and qualitative manner.
Curious how GC-MS can benefit your project, please feel free to contact us! In the meantime, we wish you happy holidays!
Tensile Tester combined with Climate Chamber
In this video, we demonstrate material testing using food containers made of polystyrene and polypropylene. We show how these materials perform under extreme conditions: freezing temperatures (-20°C) like in a freezer, and high heat (+100°C) like in a microwave or dishwasher.
Curious how Tensile Testing in combination with a Climate Chamber can benefit your project, please feel free to let us know!
