Investigation of the thermal behavior of 4-vinylpyridine-trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate copolymeric microspheres

The study describes the thermal properties of porous microspheres synthesized with functional monomer 4-vinylpyridine (4VP) and crosslinking agent trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TRIM). Polymeric 4VP-TRIM microspheres were prepared via seed polymerization, using polystyrene microbeads as a shape template. The resulting 4VP-TRIM microspheres were in the range of 9-12 mu m, with specific surface area of about 200 m(2) g(-1). The thermal properties of 4VP-TRIM materials were evaluated by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry. By TG/FTIR/MS, it was observed that new porous materials exhibited multi-staged decomposition patterns, different from poly(TRIM) microspheres. DSC and TG experiments showed that water molecules were absorbed on the materials' surface. The synthesized 4VP-TRIM microspheres exhibited rather high thermal stability. Their initial decomposition temperature was about 300 A degrees C. During the microspheres' decomposition, an evolution of carbon dioxide, water, and carbon monoxide as main gases, as well as of pyridine and aliphatic compounds, was observed. It was confirmed that the evolved pyridine accelerated the degradation of copolymeric network.