Quantitative analysis of unknown compositions in ternary polymer blends: A model study on NR/SBR/BR system

In this work, a quantitative analysis of compositions in ternary blends were performed using multi-techniques including Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) with a model ternary blend system of natural rubber (NR), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and butadiene rubber (BR). In FT-IR analysis of pyrolyzate of rubbers, each characteristic peak was affected by the presence of another component polymer in the binary or ternary blends. The TGA shows that the quantitative analysis of SBR/BR blends is impossible because of their very close thermal decomposition behaviors. In DSC analysis, it is possible to determine only the blend composition of SBR/BR. Therefore, it was difficult to characterize a composition of the ternary blend system of NR/SBR/BR. However, the quantitative analysis of compositions using Py-GC/MS is the most precise among other instruments because each characteristic peak on the Py-GC/MS pyrograms is unique.