Thermal behaviour of some cationic polyelectrolytes and polyelectrolyte complexes

Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis were developed on some cationic polymers, different both by the content of the quaternary ammonium salt groups in the main chain and by the content and type of polyfunctional amines, as well as on some polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs), when the cationic component was one of the above cationic polymers and the anionic component was poly(acrylic acid) sodium salt (PANa). The polycation with the lowest content in the quaternary ammonium salt groups had the highest thermal stability. The electrostatic interactions between the oppositely charged polyions in PECs induced a greater thermal stability of their structure compared with the starting polycations, The thermal behaviour of the PECs was compared with that of the physical mixtures of the corresponding complementary polymers taken in the same mass ratio as in PECs. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.