INVESTIGATION OF PYROLYSIS PRODUCTS OF POLYACRYLAMIDE BY PYROLYSIS-GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY

A study of the thermal degradation of polyacrylamide is presented. The method of flash pyrolysis-gas chromatography has been applied, and the experiments were carried out by using two different packed columns. Five major pyrolysis products were obtained during pyrolysis at 500-degrees-C, i.e. acetonitrile, acrylonitrile, propionitrile, methacrylonitrile and isobutyronitrile. These five major pyrolysis products are the same as those obtained from the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile. Therefore, it was concluded that acrylamide can be analyzed by pyrolysis gas chromatography only if it is present as either a comonomer in fibers or in copolymers which do not contain any acrylonitrile.