Thermal and structural characterization of superfine down powder

The thermal degradation of down fiber and down powder was studied using TG, DSC, TG-FTIR, and ATR-FTIR as a function of mass loss. For both down fiber and down powder, two evident mass loss stages were observed. Compared to down fiber, down powder had higher moisture and lower thermal stability. The oxygen in air weakened the mass loss of superfine down powder in the temperature range of 300-530 A degrees C, and accelerated the oxidation-reduction reaction between oxygen and powder when the temperature was over 530 A degrees C. The microstructures of down fiber and down powder were investigated on the analysis of DSC results. As the decrease in the average particle size of down powder, the absorbed energy of the destruction of crystallinity, rupture of crosslinks and thermal degradation of peptide bonds decreased, respectively. The gases evolved during thermal degradation of superfine down powder were inspected by in situ FTIR, and then the solid residues collected at different temperature were analyzed using ATR-FTIR. The color evaluation of superfine down powder hot-pressed at high temperature was discussed to confirm the best hot-processing condition.