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Infrastructure

Laboratories

The Laboratory of Chemical Transformations is located in room B107, covering approximately 32 m2. It features a set of benches and cabinets, an exhaust hood, a high-vacuum system, and small-scale equipment such as rotary evaporators, vacuum pumps, thermostatic baths, heating and stirring plates, heating mantles, ultrasonic bath, analytical balance, drying oven for glassware, and freezers for storing reagents and products.

The Laboratory for Performance Evaluation of Products is located in room B106, covering approximately 20 m2. It includes benches, cabinets, an analytical balance, a controlled temperature oven, a benchtop pH meter, and equipment to assess the efficiency of products and formulations such as inhibitors of inorganic incrustation.

The Laboratory of Fire Reaction Tests is located in room B103, covering approximately 28 m2. It includes benches, cabinets, and an exhaust system. The laboratory is equipped with instruments for measuring the Limiting Oxygen Index – LOI (ISO 4589-2) and glow-wire (IEC 60695-2-10 and IEC 60695-2-12), apparatus for vertical burning test - UL-94, measurement of the time vs. temperature ratio for coatings, and also a gas chromatograph with simultaneous mass spectrometry and flame ionization detector.

The Thermal Analysis Laboratory is located in room A103, covering approximately 18 m2, and is equipped with benches, cabinets, a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), and a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC).

The Microscopy Laboratory is located in room A110, covering approximately 9 m2, and is equipped with a heated optical microscope.

Equipment and Analysis

Vertical Burning - UL-94

The vertical burning test is a classification analysis of polymeric materials regarding ease of ignition and propagation, standardized by Underwriters Laboratory known as UL-94. Possible classifications are V2, V1, and V0, with the latter being the most desired by the industry and researchers. Polyolefins without flame retardants usually do not classify (NC).

Heating Microscopy

The intumescence process can be monitored in real-time through heating microscopy. This technique allows visualization of sample behavior changes with heating and the maintenance of the intumescent layer structure at high temperatures. The heating microscope is a Leitz model 1A.

Limit Oxygen Index (LOI)

The Limit Oxygen Index (LOI) is a standardized test (ISO 4589-2) that evaluates the ease of ignition and flame propagation of polymeric materials by determining the minimum oxygen content in an oxygen and nitrogen mixture required to sustain the burning process. The equipment is from Fire Testing Technology (FTT).

Evaluation of Flame Retardant Coatings

The test assesses the flame retardant properties of coatings for steel by measuring temperature over time.

Thermogravimetric Analysis

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is a thermal analysis technique in which the variation in sample mass is determined as a function of temperature. This technique allows checking the changes that heating can induce in the mass of substances, establishing the temperature range at which they begin to decompose, monitoring dehydration, oxidation, combustion, decomposition, among other reactions. We have the Shimadzu TGA-51 thermogravimetric analyzer.

Glow-Wire or Incandescent Wire

The equipment allows the evaluation of flame-retardant properties for materials used in the electrical sector. During the test, a heated tip at a specific temperature comes into contact with the test specimen, simulating thermal stress that may occur in electrotechnical components due to improper electrical installations or overload on electrical components. The equipment is from Ceast model 6447A, and the tests follow standards IEC 60695-2-10, IEC 60695-2-11, IEC 60695-2-12, and IEC 60695-2-13.

Gas Chromatography with Simultaneous Mass Spectrometry and Flame Ionization Detection (GC-MS-FID)

The combined use of these techniques allows the separation, identification, and quantification of organic, volatile, and semi-volatile compounds in a mixture. Applications include quality control of fuels, detection of substances in food, water, soil, and air, monitoring organic reactions and their products, among others. The equipment is from Shimadzu, model GCMS-QP2010, with flow splitter for simultaneous analysis by both detectors.

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)

The equipment allows monitoring events involving heat exchange: endothermic and exothermic events. Therefore, it is a very useful technique in determining the melting temperature and crystallization of chemical compounds, glass transition temperature of polymers, among others. We have a Perkin-Elmer DSC-7 equipment.