{"id":3717,"date":"2026-08-07T10:32:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/?p=3717"},"modified":"2026-08-07T10:32:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:32:33","slug":"failure-analysis-of-moulded-polyacetal-components-using-ftir-dsc-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/failure-analysis-of-moulded-polyacetal-components-using-ftir-dsc-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Failure Analysis of Moulded Polyacetal Components Using FTIR & DSC Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Industry:<\/strong> Polymers \/ Plastics Manufacturing<\/p>\n

Problem:<\/strong> Polyacetal, also referred to as acetal or polyoxymethylene (POM), is a high-performance engineering thermoplastic known for its high strength, dimensional stability, low friction, and strong wear resistance. However, after introducing a new polyacetal resin batch to a production process, the failure rate of mechanical components increased dramatically.<\/p>\n

Solution: <\/strong>SEAM performed two materials analysis techniques; Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), to determine compositional differences between a failed component and a control sample.<\/p>\n

The polymers were first characterised using FTIR to determine their chemical composition. Samples were analysed using a Bruker Lumos II FTIR Microscope, in direct contact with the ATR crystal and then compared against a reference database for quick identification. There were no obvious differences between a control and the failed component (Fig 1). The reference library indicates that both samples are consistent with polyoxymethylene, as expected (Fig 2).<\/p>\n

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Figure 1<\/strong>: Overlay of ATR-FTIR spectra of control and failed samples.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Figure 2<\/strong>: Match of spectrum with reference library – polyoxymethylene (POM) match.<\/p>\n

The polymers were then analysed using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TA Instruments DSC250) to study the crystalline properties. A small amount of material (10 mgs) was isolated from the failure region on the samples and heated from room temperature to 220\u00b0C, at a heating rate of 10\u00b0C\/min. This was then repeated for the known good sample (control). The results (Fig 3.) indicate a marked difference in peak melt temperature of the polymer (12\u00b0C lower than the control).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Figure 3<\/strong>: Overlay of DSC heating cycles of control and failed POM samples.<\/p>\n

Polyacetal polymers typically come in two forms, Homopolymer and Copolymer (Fig 4.). Homopolymers are made from a single monomer [-CH2<\/sub>O-], resulting in higher crystallinity and superior mechanical properties like increased stiffness, strength, and hardness. Copolymer polyacetal\u00a0was not detectable in FTIR analysis but can easily be distinguished using DSC.<\/p>\n

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Figure 4<\/strong>: Polyacetal homopolymer and copolymers<\/p>\n

Conclusion: <\/strong><\/p>\n

A failed component was analysed and compared with a control sample. It was determined that the failed sample was a polyacetal copolymer and the control sample was a polyacetal homopolymer. If the application requires maximum strength, wear resistance, or minimal deformation under load, switching to a copolymer with reduced mechanical properties can result in failure of the part.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This piece was written by Dr. Colin Reidy & Malgorzata Markowska . If you would like to learn more about the analysis or capability at SEAM please contact us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Industry: Polymers \/ Plastics Manufacturing Problem: Polyacetal, also referred to as acetal or polyoxymethylene (POM), is a high-performance engineering thermoplastic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3719,"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3717\/revisions\/3719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobileandwebsitedevelopment.com\/seam.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}