Discrimination of rubber-based pressure sensitive adhesives by size exclusion chromatography

In this report, three pairs of rubber-based pressure sensitive adhesives were analyzed by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (ATR/FT-IR) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC). The size exclusion chromatograph was equipped with a refractive index (Rl) detector and an ultraviolet (UV) absorption detector set to measure at 254 nm. Both adhesives of each pair revealed indistinguishable pyrograms and IR spectra, however, the SEC chromatograms were able to provide further discrimination. The differences were observed in the range below the polystyrene equivalent molecular weight of 700 Da.