Characterization of Ethylene methyl methacrylate and Ethylene butylacrylate Copolymers with Interactive Liquid Chromatography

International audienceCopolymers of ethylene with methyl methacrylate (EMMA) and butyl acrylate (EBA), which are of different average chemical composition and block lengths according to NMR analysis, were analyzed by size exclusion chromatography (SEC), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Crystallization Analysis Fractionation (CRYSTAF), and high performance liquid chromatography at high temperature (HT-HPLC). With CRYSTAF and DSC crystallizing fractions were detected only in some samples. HT-HPLC fractionated all the samples irrespective of their crystallinity. Homopolymers, PMMA and PE were also found in the copolymer samples of EMMA. EMMA and EBA were separated in HPLC according to the content of polar comonomer. A linear correlation between the MMA content and elution volume could not be established due to the presence of homopolymers as admixtures. In such a case the average chemical composition obtained by NMR does not correspond to the real chemical composition of the copolymers. Unlike EMMA the EBA samples eluted in single peaks, which was used for evaluation of their chemical composition distribution. The comparison of results obtained by fractionation via CRYSTAF and HT-HPLC clearly demonstrates the advantages of the chromatographic approach to study the chemical heterogeneity of olefin based copolymers