Apparent activation energy of degradation of poly[acrylonitrile‐co‐(N‐vinylpyrrolidone)

Abstract

AbstractDifferential scanning calorimetry results of the degradation of poly[acrylonitrile‐co‐(N‐vinylpyrrolidone)] in air are presented. The apparent activation energy of degradation was calculated using Kissinger's method. The effect of copolymerization conditions on the apparent activation energy was studied. Increasing the dimethylformamide concentration in the solvent mixture led to a rapid increase in the degradation apparent activation energy. The apparent activation energy decreased rapidly with increase in the comononer N‐vinylpyrrolidone concentration, and this change becomes less prominent as the weight ratio of N‐vinylpyrrolidone/acrylonitrile rises above 5/95. The apparent activation energy also increases with increasing copolymerization temperature. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry