Week 4

May 8, 2017 May 13, 2017

GC Standardization and Color Matching

During this week, Mr. Aguillo and Mr. Garcia taught the trainee about GC
Standardization. Proper calibration/standardization of the GC is essential. By calibrating
GC, the various retention times for compounds of interest are detected. Also, the area
under the peak can be used to determine the concentration of the sample components
by comparison to a determined calibration curve.

The samples for calibration were prepared by the trainee. She first prepared a
mixture of solvents in two small vials, labeled as Batch 1 and Batch 2. Batch 1 comprised
of 8 solvents while Batch 2 contained 6 solvents. The trainee ensured that the solvents
were mixed really well to get more accurate results. For each batch, 3 more vials are
prepared, which corresponded to three trials. Each vial had a substrate, a blank, in order
to simulate solvent retention testing in finished packaging products.

Using a microliter syringe for GC, she took 1L samples and injected it to the
prepared vials for the three trials. Each vial needed to be put inside a 90C oven for 20
minutes before it was injected to the GC machine. This process was done three times (for
each batch of solvents). The results shown by the software was compared to the
standardization results from 2015.

She also attended an Immersion activity by the Ink Matching Department. The
lecturer was Mr. Idano, an alumni of AdU. He explained that it takes a lot of trial and error
before their inks match the color demanded by the customer. The trainee was able to
have a hands-on activity by following a certain formulation/ratio and mixing different
colored inks to achieve the color shade desired by the customer. To better compare the
similarity of the two inks, a drawdown was needed. She chose a dark green ink. Mr. Idano
said that the color she matched was from the packaging of Pampangas Best.

Noted by:

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Joselito Miguel
Ink Making Department Senior Supervisor