Comparison of the kinetics of the decay of peroxide radicals in the crystalline phase of polypropylene and poly-4-methylpentene-1

Abstract

The kinetics of the decay of peroxide radicals of polypropylene and poly-4-methylpentene-1 in oxygen and an inert atmosphere has been studied. It is shown that the presence of reactive mobile side groups in poly-4-methylpentene-1 removes the “conformational prohibition” from the reaction of breakdown of the peroxide macroradical existing in the crystalline phase of polypropylene leading to its death and promotes the averaging of the kinetic non-equivalence of the peroxide macroradicals of the main polymer chain.