High-Temperature Liquid Chromatography at Critical Conditions: Separation of Polystyrene from Blends with Polyethylene and Ethylene-Styrene Block Copolymers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Liquid chromatography at critical conditions (LCCC) is an important tool for the separation of complex polymers according to chemical composition. For ambient temperatures more than 150 different LCCC separation systems are known, while at temperatures that are suitable for chromatography of polyolefins (i.e. > 130°C) not a single system is known from literature. In this article we present LCCC conditions for polystyrene at a temperature of 140°C and their application to the analysis of polymer blends composed of polystyrene and polyethylene or styrene-ethylene block copolymers.