A mass-spectrometric study of the behavior of thermotropic liquid-crystalline polymers on heating

Physicochemical processes accompanying the thermal treatment of a liquid-cr ystalline aromatic copolyester Ultrax-4002 at temperatures in the vicinity of the thermotropic transition were studied by mass spectrometry in order t o reveal possible features of the mechanism of polymer strengthening. It is shown that the thermal treatment leads to additional polycondensation in t he material and the degradation of macromolecules with the accumulation of low-molecular-mass products in the polymer bulk. The energy parameters of t he polycondensation, thermal degradation, and diffusion processes were dete rmined. (C) 2001 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".