Kinetic analysis of poly(vinyl butyral)/glass ceramic thermal degradation using non-linear heating functions

A kinetic analysis based on a set of non-linear heating functions was developed to evaluate the thermal degradation of poly(vinyl butyral)/glass ceramic composites. The non-linear Arrhenius equation with respect to temperature can be exactly solved by introducing this non-linear heating function (integrating factor). The integral formula can then be used to determine kinetic parameters of solid-state reactions applying the non-linear heating strategies. Thermal decomposition of calcium carbonate in nitrogen and air was utilized to evaluate the reliability of the proposed algorithm using TGA. Results show that the kinetic analysis of this case was quite reasonable compared with the data reported in the literature. This analytical approach was applied on the kinetic analysis of PVB/ceramic thermal degradation. The kinetics of the PVB/ceramic degradation was discussed based on the analytical results. The results can be applied to the design and operation of the ceramic thermal processing.