INDEX testing

ISO 4660, Bubber, Bjaw Natural—Color Index Test, International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, 1991. 

Over the years many attempts have been made to provide some measure of the maximum service temperature which a material will be able to withstand without thermal degradation rendering it unfit for service. Quite clearly any figure will depend on the time the material is likely to be exposed to elevated temperatures. One assessment that is being increasingly quoted is the UL 746B Relative Temperature Index Test of the Underwriters Laboratories (previously known as the Continuous Use Temperature Rating or Index). 

In other halogen-containing systems, such as flexible PVC and polyolefins, it is preferable to use the zinc borate in conjunction with antimony oxide for maximum performance. In flexible PVC, for example, the zinc borate alone is not very effective in the Oxygen Index test (Fig. 6), but a combination of the zinc borate and antimony oxide (1 1 ratio) outperforms equal weight of antimony oxide at a total loading of more than 10 phr (4). In the presence of alumina trihydrate (ATH), the beneficial effect of using a combination of the zinc borate and antimony oxide is dramatically increased (Fig. 7). 

Fig. 3. Oxygen Index Test of Polylite 33-442 Containing Dibromoneopentyl Glycol, ZB - Zinc Borate, Sb - Antimony Oxide. (Reproduced with permission from Ref. 2. Copyright Plastics Compounding 1985).

The melt Index test measures the flow property at a fixed wall shear stress In the capillary. The shear stress depends on the load specified for the condition and it is provided in Table 3.8. The apparent shear rate at the capillary wall that the resin experiences depends on the Ml value measured, and it can be calculated using a modification of Eq. 3.33 as follows ... 

Table 3.8 Test Conditions and Shear Stress at the Capillary Wall for Melt Index Testing as Prescribed by ASTM D1238-04c [15]...

The constraint index test revisited anomalies based upon new zeolite structure types. Micropor. Mesopor. Mater., 35-36, 31 5. 

Especial points which emerge from these studies include (a) the almost complete absence of reactivity of the hydroxy-groups of simple carbohydrates in water, which is attributed to their powerful solvation by water preventing a close approach of any other solute and (b) the ability of ester groups to interact with proton-acceptors. The refractive index tests, examination of m.p. or b.p., and infrared spectra of certain mono- and poly-esters appear to be interpreted most simply by assuming the formation of weak CH bonds by ester groups under the activating influence of the adjacent (5—0 double bond. These bonds can account for certain properties of l 2-diesters and for the adsorption of proton-acceptor solutes by cellulose acetates. 

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