Kinetic model of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) thermal degradation from experimental non-isothermal data

The non-isothermal data given by TG curves for poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) were studied in order to obtain a consistent kinetic model that better represents the PHB thermal decomposition. Thus, data obtained from the dynamic TG curves were suitably managed in order to obtain the Arrhenius kinetic parameter E according to the isoconversional F-W-O method. Once the E parameters is found, a suitable logA and kinetic model (f(α)) could be calculated. Hence, the kinetic triplet (E±SD, logA±SD and f(α)) obtained for the thermal decomposition of PHB under non-isothermal conditions was E=152±4 kJ mol⁻¹, logA=14.1±0.2 s⁻¹ for the kinetic model, and the autocatalytic model function was: f(α)=α^m(1−α)ⁿ=α^0.42(1−α)^0.56.