Oxidation and unzipping in ELIUM resin: Kinetic model for mass loss

Abstract

This paper gives a first study of the thermal and thermal oxidative ageing of ELIUM® resins. Chain ends unzipping was observed to be the main degradation mechanism under nitrogen whereas an oxidation mechanism with random chain scissions is shown to predominate in presence of oxygen. A first simplified kinetic model is proposed and fits experimental results for thin films at temperatures ranging from 230 to 310°C under oxygen or nitrogen.