The heat of gasification of polymers

The heat of gasification is often considered as a fundamental property of solids and is used to estimate burning rates at specific heat fluxes in engineering calculations. For solids which sublime at a critical temperature, there is no problem with this approach. However, how valid is the concept of heat of gasification for real polymers? The exploration of this question starts with an analysis of the usual method for estimating the heat of gasification of solids due to Tewarson & Pion. This method is then compared with specific calculations for PE and PMMA. Finally, a new degradation model based on population balance equations is used to calculate heat of gasification for PMMA under a variety of conditions. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. Ail rights reserved.