Extraction and identification of volatile toxic solvents in PVC-based adhesives by GC-MS

An adhesive is any substance applied to the surfaces of materials that binds them together and resists separation. For an adhesive to be effective it must have three main properties. At first it must be able to wet the substrate. It must be cured and finally be able to transmit load between the two surfaces/substrates being adhered. PVC-based adhesive is specially developed for professional use in construction industry to provide a strong joint and seal for high pressure rigid PVC pipes, profiles and drainpipes. In international standard that belongs to adhesives for assembly of PVC-U pipe (ISO 7387-1, 2009) is mentioned to THF and cyclohexanon as solvents in adhesive matrix. In the proposed work, solvents of PVC-based adhesive have been extracted by distillation and identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Result showed some toxic solvents in adhesive such as 3,3-dimethyl pentane 2.8%, benzene 5.4%, 2-methyl hexane 3.6% and Toluene 20.8%, in addition to 2-methoxytetra hydrofurane 8.6%, cyclohexanone 53.5%.