Thermal and Thermooxidative Degradation of Reinforced Polymers

The experimental results of studies on the degradation of filled polymers are often contradictory. This may be caused not only by differences in the methods of production of the filled polymers, but also by the apparatus and experimental procedures (measurements of temperature, pressure, changes in the mass of samples, analysis of low- and high-molecular-mass products of degradation, etc.). Consequently, the description of the apparatus and methods for studies of the degradation of polymers, especially of filled ones, employed in different laboratories is essential, since it may promote the elimination of contradictions and errors that have been observed in certain investigations. 

A wide range of techniques have been applied to the elucidation of the thermal stability of polymers  

Thermogravimetric analysis Differential thermal analysis Differential scanning calorimetry Thermal volatiUszation analysis Evolved gas analysis Mass spectroscopy methods Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization Imaging chemiluminescence 

Differential scanning calorimetry [3-10] Pressure differential scanning calorimetry Evolved gas analysis Infrared spectroscopy [11-25] 

Electron spin resonance spectroscopy [26-31] Mass spectrometry Pyrolysis-based techniques 

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