Dispersion Staining as Applied to Organic Polymer Identification

Any transparent substance when mounted in a particular liquid and when properly viewed shows dispersion staining colors. Most transparent substances can be examined in this way in commercially available Cargille index liquids; however, polymers and resins, being essentially liquids, have about the same dispersion curves as the Cargille liquids and show only paint dispersion colors. Other liquids based on cinnamaldehyde show strong dispersion colors with fibers and have been used in this paper.