A thermal oxidative degradation study of triallyl isocyanurate crosslinking moiety in fluorinated rubber by two-dimensional infrared correlation spectroscopy

Thermal degradation of crosslinking moiety in fluorinated rubbers was studied with a new method using spatial-dependent infrared (IR) microscopy and two-dimensional (2D) IR correlation spectroscopy. Upon heating the fluorinated rubber, initially the amount of crosslinker decreased followed by generating another chemical species with carbonyl substituent with IR absorption at around 1730 cm-1, implying generation of carboxylic acids forming intermolecular hydrogen bonding. Furthermore, projection 2D IR correlation analysis revealed that another chemical species with IR absorption at around 1755 cm-1 generates, indicating that further degradation progresses upon heating and intermolecular hydrogen bonding were broken. As a result, the multi-step degradation process of the crosslinker in the fluorinated rubber could be detected by combination of spatial-dependent IR microscopy and projection 2D IR correlation spectroscopy.