THERMAL-DEGRADATION OF ALIPHATIC-AROMATIC POLYAMIDES - KINETICS OF N,N'-DIHEXYLISOPHTHALAMIDE NEAT AND IN PRESENCE OF COPPER IODIDE

An experimental study to determine the effect of copper (I) iodide (CuI) on the rate and product distribution of degradation of a model of an aliphatic-aromatic polyamide was carried out. N,N-Dihexylisophthalamide (DHI) was reacted in both an inert argon atmosphere and a pure oxygen environment at 350 degrees C with CuI added in amounts ranging from 0 to 20% by weight. The rate of disappearance of DHI was enhanced by an order of magnitude when 0.5% by weight of CuI was added and was an increasing function of increasing CuI loading. Reaction in pure O-2 increased the rate of DHI degradation by two orders of magnitude over that for neat DHI pyrolysis. The rate of disappearance of DHI in O-2 was relatively unchanged when 5% CuI by weight was added. The transformations of DHI and its products are organized in terms of a set of reaction rules. This ''reaction operator'' formalism allowed computer generation of the reaction network and facilitated estimation of kinetic parameters. (C) 1995 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.