Pyrolysis paired with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS) was shown to be a successful analytical tool for analyzing the degradation behavior of engineering siloxanes.  Multi-modal distributions of chain lengths, varied crosslink topologies/densities, chemically modified free chain ends, different reactive and/or passive fillers and plasticizers/processing aids yield complex network structures which make analysis and characterization difficult.  Various engineering siloxane elastomers with different chemistries were analyzed using py-GC/MS, and the main thermal degradation products of the siloxane elastomers were consistent, however the ratios of the different products varied.   These ratios were compared and analyzed, and the goal of this work was to �map� the pyrolysis fingerprints such that underlying chemistries, systematic similarities, fillers, and morphologies could be predicted.  In this paper, multivariate statistical analysis, specifically principle component analysis (PCA), was used in combination with py-GC/MS in order to provide a direct link between the fingerprint behavior and the starting network structure.

Applications of pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry for the analysis of engineering siloxanes

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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