Thermal Degradation and Electrical Properties of Random and Block Piperazine Copolyamides

The thermal degradation of random and block copolymers of terephthaloyl trans-2,5-dimethylpiperazine/isophthaloyl trans-2,5-dimethylpiperazine were investigated in terms of rates, activation energies, degradation products, and electrical properties. The rates of degradation and the nature of the volatile degradation products indicate that both random and block copolymers follow a nearly random free-radical type of cleavage in vacuum with activation energies between 59 and 61 kcal/mole. In the temperature range 390=440°C, the block copolymers are significantly more stable in a vacuum (the rates of degradation are two to four times slower) than the random copolymers. In contrast to the random copolymers, the block copolymers showed only slight frequency dependence of their dielectric constants and dissipation factors between 0.1 and 100 kcps.