Conference Report: WORKSHOP ON NEW MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY FOR POLYMER PROCESSING Gaithersburg, MD December 3–4, 1990

This report describes activity at a workshop on New Measurement Technology for Polymer Processing which was held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology on December 3-4,1990. The workshop was attended by 19 industry scientists and engineers from polymer processing and instrumentation manufacturing companies. The objective was to seek industry responses to the question: what in-line or on-line, real-time measurements do you need to make during polymer processing but are unable to do so because the measurement technology does not exist? Processors identified their measurement problems and needs by describing various processing operations. Tire and rubber manufacturing, thermoplastic compounding, injection molding, film processing, and reactive processing were described with respect to related measurement problems. Workshop discussions yielded a consensus of the following measurement needs: (a) in-line rheological measurements; (b) improved in-line temperature measurements; and, (c) in-line and on-line measurements of polymer morphology. An ongoing NIST measurement development program, which focuses on temperature and rheological measurements, was described. The NIST program is based on optical and fluorescence measurement techniques which have been used both for laboratory experiments and for instrumenting process machinery. The workshop is being used as a basis for developing NIST/industry collaboration on measurement technology development.