FTIR Spectroscopy and DFT Calculations to Probe the Kinetics of β-Carotene Thermal Degradation

A "snapshot" simulation of the surface reaction zone is captured by a thin film of material heated rapidly to temperatures characteristic of the burning surface by using the T-jump/FTIR spectroscopy. The time-to-exotherm (tx) kinetics method derived from the control voltage trace of the Pt filament can be introduced to resolve the kinetics of an energetic material owing to its high sensitivity to the thermochemical reactions. The kinetic parameters of the two title compounds are determined under different pressures. The results show that Li(NTO)·2H2O and Na(NTO)·H2O (NTO = anion of 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one) exhibit weak pressure dependence, their decomposition is dominated by the condensed phase chemistry irrespective of the pressure in the 0.1-1.1 MPa range. The values of Ea determined here are smaller than those given by a traditional non-isothermal differential scanning colorimetry (DSC) method, which might be resembled as the surface of explosion more closely and enabled the pyrolysis surface to be incorporated into models of steady and possibly unsteady combustion. The kinetics can also be successfully used to understand the behavior of the energetic material in practical combustion problems.

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Thermal Degradation Kinetics and Modeling Study of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWP)/Graphene Nanocomposite

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26061597 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (6) ◽

pp. 1597

Author(s):

Iman Jafari ◽

Mohamadreza Shakiba ◽

Fatemeh Khosravi ◽

Seeram Ramakrishna ◽

Ehsan Abasi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thermal Stability ◽

Molecular Weight ◽

Thermal Degradation ◽

High Molecular Weight ◽

Degradation Kinetics ◽

Graphene Nanosheets ◽

Thermal Degradation Kinetics ◽

Graphene Nanocomposites ◽

Kinetics Of ◽

Ultra High Molecular Weight

The incorporation of nanofillers such as graphene into polymers has shown significant improvements in mechanical characteristics, thermal stability, and conductivity of resulting polymeric nanocomposites. To this aim, the influence of incorporation of graphene nanosheets into ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) on the thermal behavior and degradation kinetics of UHMWPE/graphene nanocomposites was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that graphene nanosheets were uniformly spread throughout the UHMWPE’s molecular chains. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) data posited that the morphology of dispersed graphene sheets in UHMWPE was exfoliated. Non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies identified a more pronounced increase in melting temperatures and latent heat of fusions in nanocomposites compared to UHMWPE at lower concentrations of graphene. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) revealed that UHMWPE’s thermal stability has been improved via incorporating graphene nanosheets. Further, degradation kinetics of neat polymer and nanocomposites have been modeled using equations such as Friedman, Ozawa–Flynn–Wall (OFW), Kissinger, and Augis and Bennett’s. The "Model-Fitting Method” showed that the auto-catalytic nth-order mechanism provided a highly consistent and appropriate fit to describe the degradation mechanism of UHMWPE and its graphene nanocomposites. In addition, the calculated activation energy (Ea) of thermal degradation was enhanced by an increase in graphene concentration up to 2.1 wt.%, followed by a decrease in higher graphene content.

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