THERMOLYSIS OF ACETYLENE-TERMINATED SULFONE RESINS .1. VOLATILE PRODUCTS OF DEGRADATION

Acetylene terminated sulfone (ATS) resin fractions and related model p olymers have been pyrolysed to 1000-degrees-C under high vacuum condit ions. Thermal volatilization analysis (TVA) experiments were performed to provide a semi-quantitative kinetic analysis of degradation proces ses which produce volatile by-products. Application of sub-ambient the rmal volatilization analysis (SATVA) in conjunction with ancillary tec hniques of analysis allowed quantitative measure of the condensable vo latile product distribution as a function of pyrolysis temperature. Th e noncondensable volatile products of degradation were determined by t he technique of adsorption thermal volatilization analysis (ATVA) used in conjunction with quantitative gas phase infrared spectroscopy. Fou r overlapping volatile forming processes were identified and character ized through their product distributions. The yields of noncondensable products of degradation and the char yield increased with the crossli nk density. In contrast, the yields of condensable volatile products r emained insensitive to crosslink density.