Thermal Destruction of Copolymers of Polypropylene Glycol Maleate with Acrylic Acid

Abstract

The results from thermogravimetric and kinetic studies of copolymers of polypropylene glycol maleate with acrylic acid at different molar ratios are presented. The results from conventional thermogravimetric studies are used to determine kinetic characteristics of the process of thermal decomposition, i.e., activation energy and pre-exponential factors. These parameters are determined in three ways: the Achar, Freeman–Carroll, and Sharp–Wentworth methods. Activation energies calculated using all the three methods confirm the dependence of the destruction process on the ratio of components in a synthesized copolymer. It is shown that the obtained values of the activation energies and thermodynamic characteristics allow us to predict a copolymer’s composition.