Laboratory applications

For all materials other than basic constructional steels and cast irons, reputable suppliers have information bases and applications laboratories from which information can be obtained. Trade organizations representing categories of materials suppliers are excellent sources of information some are listed at the end of this chapter. The materials suppliers should be consulted in conjunction with equipment suppliers in order to ensure that the information generated is fully applicable to the end use to which the material is to be put. Fabrication techniques should be agreed between the two types of suppliers, since some materials cannot be cast or welded and forging cannot make some items. 

For acquisitions of instruments, cost-benefit analysis is usually only the first step. It is much more difficult to write a justification for an instrument based on project utilization. In some companies, it may be difficult to get an instrument unless one can go outside the company to get data to prove the benefits of an instrument. That scientific literature demonstrating the utility of an instrument on related compounds is not an acceptable substitute to data on the company s compound can be distressing it can be difficult to get the necessary permissions to take a sample out of the company to a university or to an instrumental applications laboratory, and it can be awkward to present data to a conference of senior managers who have little understanding of the science involved in the presentation. However, the present system often makes it incumbent on the laboratory director to do these things to get the instruments necessary to complete projects on time. 

Although elemental analysis (i.e. the determination of elements ranging from H to U) in a polymeric material is very common practice in the polymer industry, among polymer processors, research and application laboratories, and end-users, the analytical methods and protocols used are widely different and are not harmonised within the EC, let alone worldwide. Among the currently established 344 ISO methods for plastics, there are no ISO-approved methods available for... 

Most of the hplc instrumentation now in use is unsuitable for small bore columns. At the moment, the technique is used mainly in the applications laboratories of some instrument manufacturers (they are interested in selling it ). The method is potentially attractive in areas where sample sizes are very limited, for example in biochemical or life sciences applications, but whether or not it becomes widely accepted remains to be seen. 

An aspect of particular interest is the performance of hindered amines in protective coatings such as lacquers. Weathering tests in our application laboratories have shown that a tetramethylpiperidine derivative (HALS 1) has in fact a very good protective effect. 

While method transfer remains a formal process to demonstrate equal method performance between the development and the application laboratories, the continuous involvement of the customers during method development greatly facilitates the process. The final method is not new for the application laboratories at the time of transfer and the transfer process is not the primary challenge of the method. 

Varian Associates contributed the time and talents of its NMR Applications Laboratory. We are indebted to Mr. N.S. Bhacca, Mr. L.F. Johnson, and Dr. J.N. Shoolery for the NMR spectra and for their generous help with points of interpretation. 

We thank Dr. F. Noack for his support by providing the laser system in the Femtosecond Application Laboratory of the Max Bom Institute. Financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through Sonderforschungsbereich 450 is gratefully acknowledged. 

Because of the nature of their activity, market development must work closely with the applications laboratory. Applications is a group of specialists who develop detailed technical information on the properties of the new plastic raw material. They determine the functional suitability of the plastic part after it has been produced from the customer s mold or of the prototype part built by the lab group. This testing of course, includes the usual chemical and mechanical analysis as well as environmental testing under the conditions in which the customer intends to use the part. 

Measurements of collision-induced spectra reflect certain details about intermolecular interactions. If analyzed with care, such information will enhance knowledge of molecular interactions. Furthermore, for specific applications, laboratory measurements of collision-induced spectra taken at a few fixed temperatures must be interpolated, often even extrapolated to the temperatures of interest. We will, therefore, discuss the tools available for analysis and further use of laboratory measurements, for example, for astrophysical applications. 

Electrochemical Electrolysis (EL) water (highly purified) Predominately for pure water applications, laboratory to small industrial scale... 

For many applications, laboratory-based analyses may be developed on standard laboratory instruments. While these are not always the most ideal, they do provide a starting... 

For special applications, laboratories offer the following non-routine analytical techniques ... 

The WWC program consists of experiment groups that each initially included a scenario and a set of three experiments—a skill-building laboratory, a foundation laboratory, and an application laboratory. The scenario presents a situation or problem that nonchemistry professionals, such as an ecologist or a nurse, may encounter in their field. Examples of four experiment groups are provided later in this chapter. 

In Acid-Base Titration and the Global Carbon Cycle, the scenario and the application laboratory were developed in conjunction with a field ecologist who simply stated, We can have the students set up in the laboratory what we have done in the field. They just have to set up an apparatus that traps the leaves and collects the C02. This experi-... 

In the application laboratory, students determine the quantity of carbon dioxide produced from the decay of leaves over a given period of time and report their results as milligrams of C02 per gram of leaf per day. They set up compost jars and a control jar a week in advance to give the leaves a chance to decay. The students back titrate to determine the number of moles of sodium hydroxide left unreacted, which enables them to ultimately determine the quantity of carbon dioxide produced from the decay of the leaves. The previously done skill -building laboratory has given them experience with back titrations when they analyzed the number of moles of hydrochloric acid neutralized by different commercial antacids. 

There are a number of other people or organizations to whom you can turn for help. The company from whom who purchased your chromatographic equipment or from whom you plan to purchase equipment may be able to help you. A number of these companies maintain applications laboratories for this purpose. Contact your sales representative. 

Since this review is geared for a general audience, we have limited the discussion to methodologies that are accessible to the nonspecialists and that can be carried out on commercially available spectrometers without special modifications. Most of these techniques are already in widespread use to indicate an important future direction that is just beginning to reach applications laboratories, a discussion of Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) MS is also included. The specific examples used reflect some of the interests of the authors and are not intended to cover the entire field. 

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