Comparison with a Reference Polymer Polyimide

In the previous chapters experimental data on ablation of the designed polymers have been shown. Polyimide was applied as reference polymer to compare the ablation behavior of the designed polymers versus a commercial polymer which exhibits similar absorption properties. Polyimide is most probably also the most studied polymer in ablation, and numerous reference data about ablation, but also about the chemical properties, exist (e.g., thermal diffusivity, heat capacity, reflectivity, lifetime of exited states etc.). This is also the reason why many models are benchmarked against ablation data of polyimide. 

Therefore we decided to gather new data about the laser-induced decomposition of polyimide and contrast them with results from pyrolysis using the same experimental technique, i.e., diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier-transform (DRIFT) spectroscopy. 

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