For various reasons one may wish to measure the amount of unreacted or residual acrylonitrile monomer in styrene-acrylonitrile copolymers, nitrile rubbers, or ABS terpolymers.

Under optimum conditions, the lowest level of detection of AN in SAN or ABS copolymers and NBR rubbers is approximately 0.5 ppm for the packed column test method and 3 ppm for the capillary test method.

1.1 This test method is suitable for determining the residual acrylonitrile (RAN) content of styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) copolymer, rubber-modified acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) resins, and nitrile rubber (NBR).

1.2 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. Specific precautionary statements are given in Section 9.

Note 1--Although the packed column option of this test method and ISO 4581:1994 (E) differ in some details, data obtained using either test method should be technically equivalent. There is no equivalent ISO standard for the capillary column option of this test method.