Oxidative degradation of polyethylene in presence of phase transfer catalyst: Part II—Thermal studies

Abstract

Low density polyethylene (LDPE) has been modified by oxidative degradation with phase transferred permanganate and both the treated and untreated materials have been examined by TGA and DSC. In TGA, LDPE shows three degradation steps whereas the modified LDPEs show only two, owing to elimination of short branches during oxidation. From DSC studies it is evident that all melting endotherms contain two peaks which can be explained as resulting from the two structure forms of LDPE. There is a small difference in melting peak temperature as well as in percentage crystallinity of LDPE and modified LDPEs but a greater difference is observed in degradation pattern. While LDPE has one degradation step, modified LDPEs follow multistep degradation.