scope:

This part of ISO 16014 specifies a method for determining the average molecular mass and the molecular mass distribution of polymers using size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). The average molecular mass and the molecular mass distribution are calculated using a universal calibration curve instead of the conventional calibration curve. The concept of the universal calibration method is based on a relationship by which the retention time in SEC depends on the size of the polymer molecule (the hydrodynamic volume) or on the product of the intrinsic viscosity and the molecular mass M. Many polymers classified as random-coil polymers (regardless of their chemical structure, degree of branching, composition or tacticity) have been experimentally confirmed as following this relationship.