Polymer Stability and Charcoal Production

Oxalate Decomp, in Loss % on dehydration Loss % on decomposition Loss % calc, on anhydrous  

Sample contained moisture which could be removed by heating at 100 C. Mixture of Sb and SbO. Mixture 

Some polymers do not carbonise on heating but instead de-polymerise into small chain pieces. For instance polyethylene and polystyrene only yield hydrocarbons of a variety of chain lengths and no residue at all. These are, of course, useless for the desired process. 

Of interest in studies of polymer degradation are two standard tests, the ASTM D 3850 (1994) test method for rapid thermal degradation of solid electrical insulating materials by thermogravimetric method, and the ASTM D 6370 (1999) standard test method for rubber compositional analysis by thermogravimetry. 

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