Polymers Pyrolysis Library

With the vast array of polymers and additives, and the continual development of new ones, finding trace amounts in an unknown polymer sample is becoming increasingly difficult. To help tackle this challenge, CDS Analytical has developed several libraries for polymers, polymer additives, and even biofuel compounds. The libraries contain hundreds of spectra to make the most comprehensive set of libraries that will aid in making data interpretation easier than ever. These libraries are continually built upon and CDS offers free library upgrades for the life of the product.

Polymer Library

This library is a collection of spectra generated by averaging all of the spectra for a given sample. The standard GC/MS software can be used to identify the averaged spectra run for a sample against polymer compounds in the CDS library.

One example is a sample of clear plastic that when pyrolyzed produced styrene monomer, dimmer and trimer indicating polystyrene, which is a logical choice for this kind of material (Fig. 1). When the pyrogram was averaged (Fig. 2) and searched, however the best fit was for a copolymer of styrene and butadiene (Fig. 3), not pure polystyrene. Closer investigation of the smaller peaks in the pyrogram did reveal the presence of butadiene oligomers, information that may have been missed by a visual inspection of the pyrogram.