ABSTRACT
Gel Permeation Chromatography-Fourier Transform Infrared (GPC-FTIR) technique benefits the study of polymer mixtures by aiding the identification of components and additives and characterization of polymers as deduced from the microstructure of the sample as a function of molecular weight. GPC is very important in quality control in the polymer industry, because it is a convenient method to provide molecular weight and molecular weight dispersion with ease and speed. The GC-FTIR technique, in which the FT-IR system is used as a detector for gas chromatography, has inferior sensitivity compared with GC-mass spectrometry. Pyrolysis GC-FTIR technique was therefore employed to remove the silane coupling reagent from the non-volatile silica substrate, even though thermal decomposition of the reagent is inevitable. Thermal Gravimetric Analysis system is an analytical instrument which measures the weight loss of the sample with a micro-balance while the sample is heated in a furnace.
