Analytical

Rubber Consultants offers testing and analysis of rubber and other elastomeric materials and products.

Rubber Consultants’ analytical services are used extensively by polymer suppliers, suppliers of processing chemicals and various fillers, producers and users of all types of elastomeric products.

Rubber Consultants can help if you have an unacceptable reject rate during manufacture or inexplicable failures during service. We can help if you want certification of compliance with legislative controls or analytical data to show compliance.

Our customers come from a wide range of industries including automotive, aerospace, rail, tyre, marine, construction, medical, consumer goods and pharmaceutical.

Most methods are accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service). Rubber Consultants is listed on the GDUFA Generic Drug User Fee Amendment listings (GDUFA) as a Testing Facility; providing the required registration for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Chemical Analysis

Our chemical analysis services range from simple material identification to complex formulation analysis and deconstruction.

Spectroscopy: FTIR, FTIR-ATR, P-IR, UV, NMR (For identification of polymers and additives. Includes analysis of surface defects and polymer and formulation degradation)

Chromatography: GC-FID, GC-MS, GC-NPD, GC-NCD, TLC, HPLC, LC-MS, GC-HID, Headspace analysis (For separation and identification of individual components of a formulation. Volatiles analysis and contamination analysis). Automated sample preparation station with incubator and purge tool

Ion Chromatography (Includes analysis of levels of sulphur and halogens)

Thermal analysis: TGA, TGIR (Thermal analysis to obtain levels of polymer and additives, decomposition profiles and evolved gases)

DSC analysis (Measurement of melting points and glass transitions and other thermal events)

Microscopy

Microscopy: light, SEM, STEM, TEM, AFM (High magnification analysis of physical structures, physical defects)

Elemental: SEM-EDX, ICP (Elemental and filler mapping and quantification of elements.Trace element analysis)

Typical areas of work

Reject testing; analysis of blooms or general surface analysis for defects

Confirming that a product meets a purchasing specification

Explaining why a product has failed in service - failure analysis, root cause analysis

Method development and method validation

REACH SVHC Testing (GCMS and ICP)

PAH Testing (tyres and extender oils) according to ISO 21461(NMR) – UKAS accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017