Studies of the thermal degradation of polysulfones by filament-pulse pyrolysis—gas chromatography

Abstract The thermal degradation of poly(1,4-phenylene ether—sulfone) (PES), Mw 47000, and of a polysulfone resin (PSR) Mw 75000, was studied by flash-pyrolysis, with a temperature rise time (TRT) of 8 ms. Pyrolysis products were monitored by a pyrolysis-gas chromatography flame ionisation detector/flame photometric detector (Py-GC-FID/FPD) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). Special attention was given to the formation of sulphur-containing pyrolysis products. The kinetics of SO 2 formation were studied by sequential pyrolysis of PES and PSR. It was possible to differentiate between the rates of formation of SO 2 from PES and PSR. The rate of formation of SO 2 was somewhat higher for PES than for PSR. The activation energies were 270 and 280 kJ/mol, respectively, and the frequency factors were 10 14 and 10 15 s −1 .