Handbook of Size Exclusion Chromatography and Related ...

7
Size Exclusion
Chromatography of
Natural and Synthetic
Rubber
Terutake Homma and Michiko Tazaki
Kanagawa Institute of Technology
Atsugi, Japan
1 INTRODUCTION
In the early years of the rubber industry, natural rubber was the only material used
for final products, and there was no need to know precisely the molecular
characteristics such as average molecular weights and molecular weight
distribution. However, since the introduction of various kinds of synthetic rubbers
to the rubber industry, efforts have been devoted to understanding the correlations
between their molecular weight characteristics and physical properties and
processability. Apart from this technological aspect, considering the reaction of the
chemical modification of current rubbers or the synthesis of new rubbers,
elucidation of the molecular characteristics is the first necessary step for
development. Until the introduction of gel permeation chromatography (GPC) to
the method of polymer characterization in 1964 by Moore (1), a tedious molecular
weight fractionation method or ultracentrifugal analysis was employed for these
measurements. However, since then, GPC has been recognized as an invaluable
© 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc.