Thermal and thermooxidative degradation of engineering thermoplastics and life estimation

This investigation deals with the thermal or thermooxidative degradation behavior of three engineering polymers [e.g., poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), poly(ether sulfone) (PES), and poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK)] by using thermogravimetry-coupled mass spectrometry (TG-MS) analysis. The experiments were conducted both in argon and m air separately to study the changes in the degradation pattern of the polymers under varied sample environments. The samples were subjected to a programmed heating rate of 10degreesC/min and a temperature range from ambient to 800degreesC. For all these polymers, the decomposition rate, percentage weight loss, and the nature of the evolved gases were found to vary while changing the environment from argon to air. Methods of nonisothermal kinetic analysis, proposed by Flynn and Wall, and the shelf life estimation, proposed by Toop, have been described. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.