High Temperature Gel Permeation Chromatography (HTGPC)

HTGPC allows the measurement of average molecular weights and molecular weight distributions of polymers that will not dissolve in GPC solvents at convention GPC temperatures. Intertek MSG uses a GPC system where the entire GPC system is held at elevated temperature to ensure no part of the sample can re-precipitate before or during analysis leading to erroneous results

Types of polymer which may be characterised with HTGPC

Intertek MSG offers the analysis of polyethylene and polypropylene which can only be analysed by HTGPC and other polymers which can be analysed in trichlorobenzene as listed below.

Polymers amenable to analysis in trichlorobenzene at elevated temperature:

• Polyethylene
• Polypropylene
• Poly Ethylene-vinyl acetate
• Poly Ethylene-methyl acrylate
• Butyl rubber and other types of rubber.
• Poly Ethylene propylene diamine rubber
• Polyphenylene oxide

Conventional or universal calibration:

GPC analysis can be performed using conventional calibration against polystyrene polymer standards to give polystyrene equivalent molecular weights. Polyethylene and polypropylene may be analysed by universal calibration which provides absolute molecular weights. For the latter the sample needs to be pure homopolymer.