Thermal gravimetric analysis of decomposing polymeric Penocom foamed composite

Effective kinetic parameters and a physical mechanism of the thermal and thermo-oxidative decomposition are determined for the new insulating polymeric material Penocom (ρ = 140 kg/m3) upon heating to 800°C at a constant rate from 5 to 20°C/min in an atmosphere of nitrogen and air. It is shown that the thermal decomposition of the foamed composite proceeds in two stages, each of them occurring according to a first-order kinetic law and a random nucleation mechanism. It is found experimentally that thermooxidative decomposition of the foamed composite occurs according to a diffusion mechanism D3 (n = 1/3) at all stages of the process. The DTG curves allow one to distinguish four stages of the mass loss rate in the form of overlapping Gaussians.