PEROXIDE-INITIATED CROSSLINKING OF MALEIC ANHYDRIDE-MODIFIED LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT POLYBUTADIENE .2. CROSSLINKING DEGREE AND THERMAL-DEGRADATION OF CURED POLYMERS

In the reported experiments, the crosslinking density and thermal properties of peroxide-crosslinked low-molecular-weight polybutadiene and its modification products with maleic anhydride were studied. It was shown that the Flory-Rehner equation may be used for describing the equilibrium swelling of the studied systems. The molecular weight between crosslinks calculated from this equation has values from 117 to 216. It was found thermogravimetrically that the thermal stability of modified polybutadiene is lower than the unmodified material. The thermal destruction of the polymers studied is a step-by-step reaction, the first being of zero order, with activation energy of 76. 6-112. 6 kJ/mole, the second, a first-order reaction with an E//a of 28608-363. 4 kJ/mole.