Manufacturing often requires two or more dissimilar materials to be robustly joined. In paint and coating systems, adhesives, welding, printed packaging or holographic films and composite materials the interface where the materials meet is as important as the bulk materials. Understanding how and why interfaces fail is critical for ongoing business.

Poor adhesion between dissimilar materials can be by design rather than misfortune. Mould release of polymers and composite materials are typically either aided by materials formulation additions, die lubrication or intermediate release films.

Materials are attacked by the environment shortening their functional life without the correct protection or by inappropriate design. This includes aqueous corrosion, high temperature oxidation in addition to degradation of polymers and plastics.

Measurement of types, sizes, shapes of particles on various substrates with particular emphasis on the pharmaceutical industry’s need for product validation.

Identification of unknown particulates or dusts within products or processes.. Contamination can occur in many types of industry, we can offer help from a quick assessment to a comprehensive type matching exercise to identify the particles and their likely source.

This section describes how the laboratory systematically identifies particles and tracks them back though the customers process to the source and ultimately eliminate the problem.

The reverse engineering of formulated chemical products and materials. This can determine the composition and likely manufacturing method and can be used for a variety of reasons.