Molecular weight distributions of linear polymers: Detailed analysis from GPC data

The GPC method is used widely to measure molecular weights of linear polymers. High-quality GPC data contains detailed information on many aspects of the polymer's molecular weight distribution (MWD). This information can be extracted from the data using computer analysis. Equations have been derived for the two simplest MWD functions in the GPC coordinates: the Flory function (one growing polymer chain produces one polymer molecule), and for the case when two polymer radicals combine into one polymer molecule. The equations were used to analyze MWD of two classes of polymers. The first class includes polymers with narrow MWD: polyethylene, ethylene-propylene and ethylene-hexene copolymers, syndiotactic polystyrene, and radical polystyrene. The second class includes polymers with broad MWD: ethylene copolymers and polypropylene produced with heterogeneous, Ti-based catalysts. The examples demonstrate that the resolution of complex GPC curves into their constitutents serve as an important source of information about kinetics of polymerization reactions. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.