Rubber is one of the most ubiquitous materials that each of us come into contact with every day. It is used in footwear, tires, sporting goods, on athletic fields, automobiles and in a myriad of other products. Many types of rubber are used in these products such as natural, styrene-butadiene, nitrile, ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and other polymeric materials.
Pyrolysis GC-MS is a useful tool for identifying polymers. In this study, the GERSTEL pyrolysis system, in combination with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, was used for the analysis of products containing different types of rubber.