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A comparison of the thermal and mechanical degradation of glassy polystyrene by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
Author(s) -
D'Esposito L.,
Koenig J. L.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760190220
Subject(s) - polystyrene , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , materials science , degradation (telecommunications) , infrared spectroscopy , polymer , spectroscopy , infrared , thermal , polymer degradation , composite material , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , chemistry , optics , telecommunications , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , engineering , meteorology
The thermal and mechanical degradation of glassy polystyrene has been studied by Fourier Transform Infrared, FT‐IR, spectroscopy. Using difference spectroscopy we have found that the products formed from these two modes of degradation were significantly different. This result is in contrast with other workers who found similar products for the thermal and mechanical degradation of polystyrene by mass spectroscopy. Our result suggests a reassessment of the thermal activation mechanism for mechanically‐induced bond scission. We have also found that the distribution of oxidation products appears to depend upon the environment in which the polymer is mechanically degraded. Finally, we have demonstrated the utility of FT‐IR spectroscopy for studying the mechanical degradation of polymers.