Nonisothermal thermogravimetry of polymers

The model of weight loss taking place in each step of a scheme of consecutive reactions was applied to nonisothermal thermogravimetric records of bromomethylated poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide). The release of HBr was found to be faster in air than in nitrogen. A significant reduction in the apparent activation energy of dehydrobromination as compared with decomposition of the nonbrominated polymer was ascribed not only to a reduction in the activation energy of the initiation reaction, but also to an increase in the order of the termination reaction (from 1 for the nonbrominated polymer to 2 for the highly brominated polymer).