Characterization of Polypropylene in Dibutoxymethane by High-Temperature Gel Permeation Chromatography with Triple Detection

Abstract

This study presents the possibility of replacing the 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene (TCB) recommended by ASTM D 6474 for the analysis by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) of polypropylenes with dibutoxymethane (DBM, butylal), a halogen-free and less toxic solvent. The molecular weight distributions as well as the K and alpha parameters of the Mark-Houwink-Sakurada equation were measured for different types of commercial polypropylene samples solubilized in TCB and DBM, using a GPC system with triple detection (light scattering, differential refractive index, and viscometer). For the analyzed resins, covering typical applications of polypropylene, the GPC method in DBM provided results similar to those obtained in TCB.

Keywords::

• ASTM D 6474
• Dibutoxymethane
• GPC3D
• Polypropylene
• REACH