Mass spectroscopy of synthetic polymers
Pyrolysis—Mass spectroscopy can be applied to determine the primary structure of macromolecules and to investigate selective thermal degradation mechanisms. The polymer samples are heated directly in the ion source of a mass spectrometer. The high sensitivity of the instrument allows us to follow pyrolysis mechanisms even at degradation rates of' less than 1 %/min. Low degradation rates mean low pyrolysis temperatures at which only the activation energies of very selective thermal degradation mechanismsare achieved. The resulting mass spectra allow identificationof the pyrolysis products and information about the structure of polymers and copolymers is available.