Confirming the Designed Thermal Degradation of a Polycarbonate by Tga/Ft-Ir

Abstract

Integrated thermogravimetric analysis/Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TGA/FT-IR) was applied to study the thermal degradation of an aliphatic polycarbonate based on 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-hexanediol and 1,4-cyclohexanediol. A single experiment confirms that the polymer decomposes as designed to the expected products. Carbon dioxide, 1,4-cyclohexanediol, and isomeric hexadienes were thus detected and identified by comparison of their vibrational spectra with those of pure compounds in the spectral library. Some mechanistic implications are discussed.