TY - JOUR A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Kühn, Gerhard A1 - Werthmann, Barbara A1 - Schröder, Hartmut A1 - Just, Ulrich A1 - Borowski, Renate A1 - Decker, Renate A1 - Schwarz, Bärbel A1 - Schmücking, I. A1 - Seifert, Ingetraut T1 - A new approach of characterizing the hydrolytic degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) by MALDI-MS N2 - The hydrolytic degradation of technical poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) was investigated by means of different methods such as size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), viscometry, light-scattering, thin-layer chromatography, end-group titration, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS). The long-term degradation was simulated by exposing PET filament yarns to aqueous neutral conditions at 90°C for up to 18 weeks. By means of MALDI-MS and thin-layer chromatography, the formation of different oligomers was obtained during polymer degradation. As expected, an ester scission process was found generating acid terminated oligomers (H-[GT]m-OH) and T-[GT]m-OH and ethylene glycol terminated oligomers (H-[GT]m-G), where G is an ethylene glycol unit and T is a terephthalic acid unit. Additionally, the scission of the ester bonds during the chemical treatment led to a strong decrease in the number of cyclic oligomers ([GT]m). The occurrence of di-acid terminated species demonstrated a high degree of degradation. PY - 1997 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0518(199708)35:11<2183::AID-POLA9>3.0.CO;2-Z SN - 0360-6376 SN - 0887-624X VL - 35 IS - 11 SP - 2183 EP - 2192 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken, NJ AN - OPUS4-11357 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -