Recent years have seen heightened concern among consumers about contamination of products, and demand for analysis to respond to those concerns has also increased. Although reports that foreign matter has been found in some pharmaceuticals and food products have appeared in the news media from time to time, it would be difficult to eradicate this problem completely, since the causes of foreign matter are assumed to occur in various processes, for example, contamination of raw materials at the time of purchase, contamination of products due to deterioration of the component parts of production lines, and contamination of products by the customers themselves. The types of foreign matter are also diverse, including not only organic substances such as human hair, plastics, and rubber, but also oxides, metal fragments, and other types of inorganic materials. Thus, improved accuracy in qualitative analysis is required in order to identify the cause of contamination.
Since the AIMsight infrared microscope (Fig. 1) has a SN ratio of 30000 : 1, which is the highest in its class, it is possible to acquire satisfactory spectra in a short time even when analyzing microscopic contaminants. In addition, the AMsolution control software provides a sample length measurement function and the Spectrum Advisor function as standard equipment, which can check the quality of infrared spectra.
This article introduces an example of ATR (attenuated total reflection) measurement of a micro-contaminant adhering to the surface of a button cell with the AIMsight infrared microscope, and a contaminant analysis of the acquired infrared spectrum using Shimadzu Contaminant Library, which represents a compilation of this company’s experience and analytical know-how.
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