Thermogravimetric study of the decomposition process of the system BADGE (n=0)/1,2 DCH

The thermal degradation of the system diglycidyl ether of Bisphenol A (BADG E, n = 0) and 1,2 diamine cyclohexane (DCH) was studied by thermogravimetri c analysis (TG) in order to determine the actual reaction mechanism (RM) of the decomposition process. Owing to the nature of the problem, the RM cann ot be ascertained without knowledge of the activation energy. The activatio n energy of the solid state process was determined using Kissinger's method , which does not require knowledge of the RM, resulting to be 144.01 kJ/mol . Different integral and differential methods and different RM reported in the literature were used and compared with this value. Also, the experiment al results were compared to master plots, in the range of the Doyle approxi mation. Analysis of experimental results suggests that in the conversion ra nge studied, 5-20%, the actual RM is an A(4) sigmoidal type. (C) 2000 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.