Throughout history consumer products were generally manufactured from wood and metal. They either had to hold their natural color or become subject to painting. When plastics entered the industry, it was recognized for its ease of shaping, re-usability, physical properties and its low cost. One of plastics' greatest benefits is its ability to hold a given color from within allowing it to avoid use of paint. This paper will give a brief overview on the effects of pigments when incorporated in a polyolefin. It will provide a classification of the main types of pigments and how each effect the properties of the product through: crystallization, weatherability, opacity, coloristic values and of course viscosity.

It has become increasingly important to remain on the cutting edge of technology for a company to remain competitive and survive in today's high-tech industries. To do this, a company needs various resources dedicated to this cause. One of these resources is the use of existing materials, as starting points, for which improved materials can be based. For this, a company must rely on the characterization of existing materials to bring that base technology into their company. Through this evaluation, the base materials properties can be obtained and a material with improved properties can be developed. There are many techniques that can be used in characterizing an existing material, but not every technique is required to obtain the desired goal. The techniques utilized depend upon the depth of identification required. This report summarizes several techniques utilized in the characterization of existing materials and provides some examples of evaluated products.

The rheology of 1-8% hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) solutions has been studied in the temperature range of 20-45 degrees Celsius. The results showed that the relative viscosity at each HPC concentration decreases with increasing temperature. The relative viscosity decreases drastically at about 43 degrees Celsius due to a phase transition. The influence of anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), induced gelation of a 2% HPC solution. The HPC solutions gelled at surfactant SDS concentrations ranging from 0.4 to 1.0 critical micelle concentration (CMC). The gelation of the HPC/SDS hydrogel is explained in the surfactant SDD - bridged HPC linear polymer chains. The complex viscosity - concentration profile was determined below the CMC of the SDS - water pair. The peak itself was a function of frequency indicating the presence of two relaxation times within the gelled network.