Determination of residual vinyl chloride in polyvinyl chloride, vinyl chloride copolymers, and articles from polyvinyl chloride by the method of equilibrium vapor analysis

In connection with the fact that vinyl chloride (VC) has carcinogenic properties, norms for its content both in the work place and also in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and articles made from it have been sharply reduced. The method of equilibrium vapor analysis (EVA) has been used to determine vinyl chloride; this is carried out with the aid of devices for automatic metering. In the present work, the authors have investigated the possibility of applying the EVA method to PVC resins, VC copolymers, and articles made of PVC with the objective of developing universal methods of analyzing such objects. A two-stage separation is used in which the sample is preliminarily separated in a fore-column. The separation was worked out on the model mixture of methyl chloride-VC-ethyl chloride. The limit of VC detection is shown to be 5 x 10/sup -6/ to 5 x 10/sup -7/% by wt.