Thermogravimetric analysis of poly(#epsilon#-caprolactam) and poly[(#epsilon#-caprolactam)-co-(#epsilon#-caprolactone)] polymers

摘要

The thennal degradation of poly(#epsilon#-caprolactam) and its copolymers with e-caprolactone has been studied by high-resolution thenno- gravimetric analysis (TGA), followed by the analysis of evolved gas via a simultaneous coupling to Fourier transfonn infrared spectrometry (FfIR) and mass spectrometry (MS). Poly(#epsilon#-caprolactam) and poly(#epsilon#-caprolactone) polymers are, respectively, degraded at different temperatures, rendering this study to be particularly useful in detennining the structure of their copolymers, i.e. random or blocky-like copolymers. The poly[(#epsilon#-caprolactam)-co-(#epsilon#-caprolactone)] polymers have been synthesized in bulk by anionic ring-opening copolymer- ization promoted by e-caprolactammagnesium bromide in a temperature range from120 to 180degC. A multi-step degradation was observed by TGA, and characterization of the evolved gas byFTIR and MS gives credit to some blocky-like enchainment of the comonomers. This assignation has been further confinned by TGA directly perfonned on blends of poly(e-caprolactam) and poly(#epsilon#-caprolactone) as obtained by solvent casting.