Gel permeation chromatography of poly(dimethyl siloxane). I. The universal calibration

The Benoit universal calibration method has been tested for evaluation of GPC data of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in toluene at 60°C. For the conversion of the calibration curve for polystyrene to the PDMS calibration curve, the Mark–Houwink equation for PDMS in toluene at 60°C was derived: [η] = 9.77 × 10 −5 M 0.725 . The applicability of this universal calibration was proved by the experimental results on five PDMS model samples. For the correct evaluation of the PDMS elution curve, the use of the true calibration is inevitable, because the hydrodynamic volume of PDMS molecular weight unit is somewhat different from the polystyrene one.