Thermal degradation of celluloses and their vinylic copolymers by thermogravimetric analysis

Abstract

Thermal degradation of unmercerized and mercerized cotton cellulose with different % NaOH solutions and grafted vinylic copolymers with different mixtures of vinyl acetate-methylacrylate 1 have been studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in nitrogen between 25 and 600°C at different heating rates. The differences between unmercerized and mercerized samples are related to structural differences between cellulose-I (native) and cellulose-II. The grafted cellulosic vinylic copolymers have shown that their thermal stability depends upon the cellulosic substrate and the grafting percentage. From our results, it can be deduced that it is possible to prepare the cellulosic materials with good thermal stability, short degradation temperature interval, and various residues at the end of degradation.

Thermal decomposition of mercerized linter cellulose and its acetates obtained from a homogeneous reaction

“…The first step of weight loss, from Figure 3. Anhydroglucoses and enones: Products of the thermal decomposition of cellulose [41] . room temperature to 110 °C, is related to the evaporation of residual absorbed water.…”

“…room temperature to 110 °C, is related to the evaporation of residual absorbed water. The second step ends near 450 °C, and can be described by an abrupt mass loss stage that is related to the main thermal decomposition process [40,41] .…”

“…The peak temperature in the DTG curves (Figure 2) corresponds to the temperatures at which the rate of decomposition reaches the maximum value [41] .…”