Description

Although thin-layer chromatography has been used by industrial chemists for more than fifty years, its use by the wiredrawing industry has lagged behind for a number of reasons. Poor reproducibility of separations, predominant reliance on silica gel as a stationary phase while GC and HPLC have numerous phases, and variability in commercial TLC plates have been cited. This paper will attempt to address some of these concerns and also highlight the advantages inherent in TLC. The evaluation of the purity of raw materials (e.g., fatty oils, emulsifiers, and surfactants) and the monitoring of wiredrawing and continuous casting will be presented.