Quantitative analysis of nitrile rubber/chloroprene by pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry Original Research Article

This article describes a newly developed pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (PY/GC/MS) method for the determination of vulcanized chloroprene/nitrile rubber (CR/NBR) material. The pyrolysis products of nitrile rubber and chlorophrene are identified and a reaction mechanism is proposed. The peak ratio of 1-chloro-4-(1-chloroethenyl)-cyclohexene and benzonitrile is used for quantitative measurement of CR/NBR composition in vulcanized samples. Good linearity (r2=0.99) and recovery (99.1%) were obtained. A series of vulcanized CR/NBR blended rubber materials were analyzed using this method. Adequate agreement between the estimated and the actual CR composition of these commercial rubber material is thus determined.