Abstract
At temperatures of the order of 250 °C., popcorn polymer undergoes decomposition to soluble polymer. The reaction is catalyzed by peroxides present in the popcorn when the latter is formed. These peroxides may be removed by extracting the polymer with benzene. The kinetics of both the catalyzed and purely thermal solubilization reactions were investigated. The rates of both reactions are first order, the catalyzed degradation having a higher activation energy and a higher frequency factor. The rate of the thermal reaction decreases and its activation energy increases with increasing butadiene content of the polymer. A linear relation between the activation energy and the log of the frequency factor, for the decomposition of popcorn polymers of different butadiene contents, was observed. The results indicate that the rate of solubilization is determined by the activation energy of the bond scission process, and is independent of the degree of cross-linking of the polymer.
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