Thermal degradation kinetics of functional polysiloxanes containing chloromethyl groups

• The synthesis of functional polysiloxanes containing chloromethyl groups.
• The thermal degradation behaviors were investigated.
• Isoconversional methods were utilized to determine the kinetic parameters.

Functional polysiloxanes containing chloromethyl groups, namely, α, ω-Trimethylsiloxy-poly(methylchloromethyl)siloxane (PCMS) and α, ω-Trimethylsiloxy-poly(dimethyl-methylchloromethyl)siloxane (PDCMS), were synthesized in this work. The thermal degradation behaviors of the two functional polysiloxanes were investigated through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in nitrogen atmosphere. The two functional polysiloxanes exhibited more than two degradation stages in the temperature range of 30 °C–800 °C. The kinetic parameters of the thermal degradation of PCMS and PDCMS were determined with isoconversional methods, including Friedman and modified Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS) proposed by Starink.