Thermal decomposition behavior and mechanism study of cationic polyacrylamide

The thermal decomposition behavior of polyacrylamide poly (methacryloyloxyethyl trimethylammonium chloride-acrylamide) (P(DMC-AM)) was studied by means of TG and DSC under nitrogen atmosphere at temperature range of 323.15–823.15 K. The effect of cationicity on thermal stability was discussed. The TG/DSC curves indicated that the decomposition process of P(DMC-AM) included three steps, and an increase in cationicity resulted in a slightly increased decomposition temperature and decomposition enthalpy, indicating a higher thermostability for P(DMC-AM). Furthermore, the evolved gases during the degradation were analyzed simultaneously via TG coupled with FTIR and MS. The possible thermal composition mechanism was proposed and validated by calculating the bond orders. The results from this study might supply useful message for expanding innovative application.