Abstract
Films of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were prepared by the addition of photoinitiator to the polymer. The influence of five organic photoinitiators on thermal stability of poly(methyl methacrylate) was studied by thermogravimetric analysis. Next, the PMMA films doped with these photoinitiators were UV irradiated and investigated in terms of changes in their thermal stability. It was found that the photoinitiators had accelerated thermal degradation of non-irradiated PMMA films due to the action of free radicals coming from the additives’ thermolysis. For UV-irradiated specimens, the effect of photoinitiator on PMMA thermal stability depended on the chemical structure of organic compound modifying the polymer. In general, thermal stability of irradiated samples was higher in the presence of additives. Thermal destruction of modified PMMA can be explained by the formation of resonance structures in aromatic photoinitiators and consumption of energy in dissipation processes.
Highlights
Nowadays, production, processing, and modification of polymers are important branches of the plastic industry in Europe
It was found that the photoinitiators had accelerated thermal degradation of non-irradiated Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films due to the action of free radicals coming from the additives’ thermolysis
temperature at maximum process rate (Tmax) in the third stage was practically the same for all specimens compared to pure PMMA. These results suggest that studied photoinitiators accelerate thermal degradation of PMMA and their influence is especially seen in the first stage of decomposition
Summary
Production, processing, and modification of polymers are important branches of the plastic industry in Europe. The areas of polymer application are huge as they are used in electronics, medicine, transport, construction, aviation, in production of wraps, glue, tapes, paints, etc. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a well-known, inexpensive, broadly used thermoplastic material. The application of this polymer is still increasing because of its profitable physical and chemical properties, e.g., excellent transparency, high resistance to heat and light, good surface properties, biological stability, facility for processing, and product formation as well as easy modification. Thermal stability of PMMA depends on the polymer microstructure: internal defects and type of chain end groups. It has been reported that vinylidine-terminated PMMA is considerably less stable than PMMA containing saturated chain ends. Head-to-head linkages facilitate the thermal degradation of PMMA [1]
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