Thermal Characterization of p-Cresol-Urea-Formaldehyde Terpolymer Resins

Terpolymer resin was synthesized through the condensation of p-cresol, urea and formaldehyde in the mole ratio 1:1:2 in the presence of 1 2 M HCl as the catalyst. The weight average molecular weight of the synthesized terpolymer was found to be 8738 as determined by gel '. 1 permeation chromatography. The structure of the terpolymer was investigated using fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer and ' proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (111 NMR). Thermogravimetric analysis was performed to establish its thermal stability. ' Doyle, Horowitz and Metzger, Murray and White, Broido and Dharwadkar and Kharkhanavala methods were used to calculate the ' thermodynamic parameters such as enthalpy of activation (1-1'), entropy of activation (s*), free energy of activation (G!") and pre-exponential factor (A) for the different thermal decomposition steps shown by the terpolymer.