Application of high resolution thermogravimetry to the study of thermal stability of poly(vinyl chloride) resins

The influence of microstructure on thermal degradation behaviour was studied in five samples of pure poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) obtained at different polymerisation temperatures. Tacticity of the samples was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and their thermogravimetric behaviour was measured by high resolution (Hi-Res™) TGA. This technique is able to detect two independent weight loss steps in the dehydrochlorination. The relative contribution of these two steps responds to different syndiotacticity tendency of PVC samples, in accordance with FTIR results.