When testing for the industrial viability of any polymer or plastic material, specifically thermoplastic materials that have the ability to be reheated into a liquid, or melting state, it’s important to determine the melt flow of such material to have an idea of its structural and environmental specifications, and the conditions under which the material is optimal, or begins to break down.
That’s where a melt flow index tester comes into handy. Quality melt flow testing devices are integral in basic quality control, and in R&D phases, where businesses or research laboratories take experimental polymers in order to test their strengths and weaknesses and determine a use for them, or go back to the drawing board in order to devise a better polymer with a more optimal or needed melt volume flow rate and mass flow rate.
Aside from simply testing the viability of a material, a melt flow index tester will help you compare materials, quality check them, give an index value by which you can easily sort and categorize polymers and materials based on their melt flow and structural viability, and predict the ways in which a material will deal not just with temperature, but other common stressors in any number of possible applications.
To be more specific, a good melt flow tester can let you test for inconsistencies between batches, so you can better determine how to come up with a more consistent quality material or simply remove unwanted properties, such as a bad melt flow index. As per PT Online, a melt flow rate is an incredibly underrated and useful piece of information in determining the overall usefulness of a polymer, based on a number of factors like molecular weight and shear rate.
Enhancing your business’ ability to determine a material’s melt flow is only possible through the use of better measuring equipment, most specifically a better melt flow rate tester.
