Thermal stability of gamma-irradiated polyurethane/POSS hybrid materials

In this work, new version: we report essential data on the stability of gamma-irradiated polyurethanes chemically modified by octa(3-hydroxy-3-methylbutylmethylsiloxy) POSS (o-POSS) which varies from 2, 4, 6, 8 to 10 mass%. These hybrid materials were tested by isothermal (190 A degrees C) and nonisothermal (beta = 2, 3.7, 5 and 10 K min(-1)) chemiluminescence, and the thermal stability of gamma-radiation-aged samples was correlated with the change in the nanofiller loading and absorbed dose. The compositions where inorganic phase is less than 6% show an increasing thermal strength as o-POSS concentration enhances. The other samples with higher nanoparticle content present less stability in respect of inferior homologous composition. The nonisothermal chemiluminescence profiles are changing from one type of sample to the other where nanofiller induces different effects. The considerations on mechanistic aspects are discussed, too.