Polymer resin qualitative detection

Lieberman-Storch Method Procedure for the qualitative detection of rosin in vehicles. The rosin may be present as either free rosin (abietic acid), esterified rosin, or metal salts. In Europe, the Lieberman-Storch-Morawski test is more commonly used. (Paint Pigment, drying oils, polymers, resins, naval stores, cellulosics esters, and ink vehicles, vol 3. American Society for Testing and Material, 2001)... 

An additional technique that has been found useful in analysis of the composition of polymers and blends is liquid chromatography. Pasch and Rode used the critical point of adsorption of the least polar component of a blend to determine the liquid chromatographic conditions for separating blends of polymethacrylates into components (50). High pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) in combination with mass spectroscopy was used to analyze the components of an epoxy resin (51). HPLC has also been used with a precipitation-redissolution technique to separate polymer molecular weights for several polymers as a shorter technique compared to SEC (52). Reverse-phase liquid chromatography with UV detection was useful in qualitative determination of brominated flame retardants in polymeric waste materials (53). 

The role of spectroscopy in polyethylene resin characterization is to determine the types and concentrations of chemical species present in the material. The chemical species detected in a polyethylene resin may be directly attached to the polymer molecules or part of independent smaller molecules. Chemical moieties incorporated into the polymer molecules include olefinic branches, comonomers, nnsaturation, and various oxidative products. Independent molecules that commonly occur include antioxidants, catalyst residues, and processing aids. Due to the enormous variety of chemical species that find their way into polyethylene, either deliberately or adventitiously, a detailed description of their qualitative and qnantitative determination is beyond the scope of this book. Those wishing to explore this area more deeply are directed to the works of Haslam et al, Koenig, and Snyder listed in the bibliography. 

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