TY - JOUR A1 - Dümichen, Erik A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Senz, R. A1 - Fabian, G. A1 - Sturm, Heinz T1 - Assessment of a new method for the analysis of decomposition gases of polymers by a combining thermogravimetric solid-phase extraction and thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry JF - Journal of chromatography A N2 - For analysis of the gaseous thermal decomposition products of polymers, the common techniques are thermogravimetry, combined with Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (TGA–FTIR) and mass spectrometry (TGA–MS). These methods offer a simple approach to the decomposition mechanism, especially for small decomposition molecules. Complex spectra of gaseous mixtures are very often hard to identify because of overlapping signals. In this paper a new method is described to adsorb the decomposition products during controlled conditions in TGA on solid-phase extraction (SPE) material: twisters. Subsequently the twisters were analysed with thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TDS–GC–MS), which allows the decomposition products to be separated and identified using an MS library. The thermoplastics polyamide 66 (PA 66) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) were used as example polymers. The influence of the sample mass and of the purge gas flow during the decomposition process was investigated in TGA. The advantages and limitations of the method were presented in comparison to the common analysis techniques, TGA–FTIR and TGA–MS. KW - TDS-GC-MS KW - TGA-FTIR KW - TGA-MS KW - Degradation KW - Polymer KW - Solid-phase extraction PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2014.05.057 SN - 0021-9673 VL - 1354 SP - 117 EP - 128 PB - Elsevier B.V. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-31046 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -