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Method Development for Determination of n‐Hexane Solvent Extractable Materials in Polyethylene Using FIPA
Author(s) -
van Rensburg Quentin,
Luruli Nyambeni,
Sadiku Rotimi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.201250305
Subject(s) - gravimetric analysis , hexane , pellets , polyethylene , solvent , extraction (chemistry) , materials science , chromatography , polymer , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry
Hexane extractables or soluble materials in polyethylene are generally determined using gravimetric methods. These methods are slow, labour intensive and use large amounts of solvents. In this study, an attempt is made to develop a method for determining hexane extractable materials in both low and linear low density polyethylene. The GPC hybrid instrument from Viscotek that utilizes flow injection polymer analysis (FIPA) technique was used. Three samples with different physical forms (viz: pellets, powder and film) were investigated in order to determine whether physical forms had an effect on the results. The results obtained from FIPA were then compared to those obtained using the standard ASTM extraction method. The general trends of FIPA results showed reasonably good correlation to those obtained using ASTM method. Further, it was found that powder (ground pellets) and film samples analysed using FIPA give similar results while significant differences amongst the different physical forms were noticed in the results obtained using gravimetric methods. This could shorten turnaround times considerably when compared to long sample preparation times needed for gravimetric analytical methods. Further comparison of results between FIPA and the ASTM methods, yielded positive and promising data, when the average percentages of soluble materials obtained with CRYSTAF were considered.