Characterization of Polyacrylnitrile

GPC is used to easily and reliably analyze the molecular mass distribution of industrially produced polyacrylnitrile in this application note. Polyacrylnitrile (PAN) is an important component of many industrial products including heavy-duty fibres, synthetic ropes, flame resistant plastics, and the versatile impact resistant ABS plastics. PAN is also commonly used to produce fabric for clothing manufacture since its addition creates a material that is warming, soft and crease-resistant. This application demonstrates a separation based on molecular size using GPC with organic eluents, along with a simple sample preparation procedure. Since this GPC application uses DMF and a small amount of lithium bromide as mobile phase, it will work on a standard HPLC system without any modifications.