Cross-linked polymers thermal analysis

The polymers physical aging represents itself the structure and properties change in time and is the reflection of the indicated materials thermodynamically nonequilibriiun nature [61, 62], As a rule, the physical aging results to polymer materials brittleness enhancement and therefore, the ability of structural characteristics in due course prediction is important for the period of estimation of pol5mier products safe exploitation. For cross-linked polymers the quantitative estimation of structure and properties changes in physical aging process was conducted in Refs. [63, 64] within the frameworks of fracture analysis [65] and cluster model of polymers amorphous state structure [7, 66]. The authors of Ref. [67] use the indicated theoretical models for the description of PC physical aging. Besides, for PC behavior closer definition in the indicated process such theoretical notions were drawn as structure quasiequilibrium state [68] and the thermal cluster model [69], which is one from variants of percolation theory. 

Network properties and microscopic structures of various epoxy resins cross-linked by phenolic novolacs were investigated by Suzuki et al.97 Positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) was utilized to characterize intermolecular spacing of networks and the results were compared to bulk polymer properties. The lifetimes (t3) and intensities (/3) of the active species (positronium ions) correspond to volume and number of holes which constitute the free volume in the network. Networks cured with flexible epoxies had more holes throughout the temperature range, and the space increased with temperature increases. Glass transition temperatures and thermal expansion coefficients (a) were calculated from plots of t3 versus temperature. The Tgs and thermal expansion coefficients obtained from PAS were lower titan those obtained from thermomechanical analysis. These differences were attributed to micro-Brownian motions determined by PAS versus macroscopic polymer properties determined by thermomechanical analysis. 

FAB-MS has been used for the analysis of lubricant additives, thermally labile or involatile organic compounds, such as macromolecules and dyes, and inorganic compounds. Cationic dyes and dye intermediates, which are typically acid salts, readily yield preformed ions in the FAB matrix solution. They are also very difficult to address by other MS ionisation methods due to their involatility. Lay and Chang [85] used positive ion FAB to characterise a mixture of amine and ketimine cross-linking agents for polymer coatings. Bentz et al. 

The polyimide class of polymers are known to possess a high degree of thermal stability. They decompose in an inert atmosphere around 500°C and in air about 400°C as indicated by thermo-gravimetric analysis (1). Because of the great thermal stability of 2,4,6-triphenyltriazine (2J (decomposes above 486°C), copolymerization of this compound with imides should lead to enhanced heat resistant materials in the form of triaryl-s-triazine ring (TSTR) cross-linked (XL) polyimides. 

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