The simplest model for reliable prediction of the total heat release of polymers for assessment of their combustion properties

Abstract

Total heat release of a polymer is the heat of complete combustion of the pyrolysis gases per unit its initial mass. Microscale combustion calorimetry, an oxygen consumption technique, identifies the total heat release of polymers that is a key parameter for predicting polymer flammability where their measured data can be confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative TGA (DTG) data. The simplest model is introduced to predict the total heat release of different polymers on the basis of their repeat units that may contain chemical groups/moieties. In contrast to the available quantitative structure–property relationships methodology, the new method simply requires only elemental composition of repeat unit of a desired polymer without using complex molecular descriptors and computer codes where they need expert users. For the measured total heat release of 122 polymers, the predicted results are compared with the calculated data of the latest group additivity methods. The root mean square deviation, mean absolute deviation and maximum of errors of the new model are 4.5, 3.4 and 15.3 kJ g−1, which are lower than those predicted by group additivity method, i.e., 9.0, 5.8 and 35.7 kJ g−1, respectively.