Receipt of an NDEA fellowship by D. R. Lewis is gratefully acknowledged. Taken in part from the M.S. thesis of D. R. Lewis submitted to the Graduate School University of Georgia.

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Pyrolysis—gas chromatography has been shown to be an excellent technique for quantitative estimation of polymers. Its acceptance is apparent from the large number of publications reported in the past year. The increasing complexity of the constituents used in various applications has necessitated the use of more precise and sophisticated control over the experimental variables. The Curie-point pyrolysis technique has been able to provide a degree of control which has not been possible with any of the other pyrolysis techniques used. In this technique, the sample is heated in a helium stream to a precisely duplicable temperature which is dependent on the composition of the alloy used for the pyrolysis wire, the maximum temperature being the Curie-point when the ferromagnetic wire becomes paramagnetic and is thus incapable of absorbing any energy from the high frequency induction current source. The fast temperature rise results in more specific products on pyrolysis, and any contamination from previous samples can be avoided by using a new wire each time. Application of this technique to complex polymeric mixtures containing a large number of monomeric species is of considerable importance in establishing the composition of these mixtures. The ability to handle cured samples without any elaborate pretreatment makes this technique much more useful.