Thermoanalytical and pyrolysis studies of nitrogen containing polymers

The thermal degradation of polyamide 6, polyacrylonitrile and of a polyurethane rigid foam was studied using two different thermal analyzers with coupled techniques for the evolved gas analysis (TA-MS and TA-FTIR) and two combustion devices. For the thermal analyzers samples about 5 and 20 mg were used under a heating rate of 10 K min(-1). The products from the combustion of the samples (40 mg) at 800-1000 degreesC are described. An adequate clean up method was used to determine the different species of nitrogen containing products evolving during the pyrolysis of the samples. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.