Direct use of the mass output of a thermobalance for controlling the reaction rate of solid-state reactions

Abstract

Sample controlled thermal analysis equipment has been developed constituted by an electrobalance in which the mass output (TG signal) is directly used for monitoring the temperature of thermal decomposition reactions under constant rate thermal analysis (CRTA) or stepwise isothermal analysis (SIA) control. The sample weight is programmed to follow a preset linear decrease as a function of the time by means of a conventional controller, that at the time control a second conventional temperature programmer. The CRTA control is achieved by controlling the temperature is such a way that if the mass input is higher than the setpoint, the temperature increases at a predefined heating rate; while if the mass input is lower than the setpoint, the temperature decreases at a predefined cooling rate. The SIA control is achieved by selecting the run–hold command from the menu of the digital input of the temperature programmer. In such a case, the programmed linear heating schedule is in progress while the sample weight is higher than the setpoint and an isothermal dwell is maintained as soon as the weight becomes lower than the setpoint. The direct use of the mass output for the control provides a higher sensitivity for selecting very low values of constant reaction rates than the more conventional methods using the DTG output as control parameter. The thermal degradation of polyvinye chloride (PVC) has been used for checking the behavior of the equipment here developed, showing that the dehydrochlorination of PVC is controlled either by a nucleation and growth of nuclei or by a random scission of the main chain of the polymer.