Chen Li-ban

Thermal decomposition studies of highly alternating CO2- cyclohexene oxide copolymer

Abstract Highly alternating CO2-cyclohexene oxide copolymer, namely poly(cyclohexene carbonate) (PCHC), considered potentially to be microelectronic sacrificial material, was successfully synthesized by copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide and CO2 in the presence of SalenAl(OiPr) catalyst. The obtained highly alternating PCHC copolymer were determined and proven to have superior thermal decomposition properties decomposing completely at 350 oC by thermogravimetric (TG) analysis under dynamic conditions. The thermal decomposition kinetics of the obtained PCHC was investigated by a different kinetic method using data from TG analysis. Based on the analytical, kinetic parameters were calculated and kinetic model of pyrolysis was proposed. TG-IR, Py-GC/MS, IR and 1H NMR techniques were applied to investigate the decomposition process. Based on Py-GC/MS and TG-IR techniques, carbon dioxide, 1,3-cyclohexadiene, cyclopentanecarboxaldehyde, cyclohexene oxide, cyclohexanone and trans-1,2- carbonyldioxycyclohexane were identified as thermal decomposition products of PCHC. The solid residues of the PCHC with 25% ether linkages decomposed at 200, 250, 300, 350 oC as determined by IR and 1H NMR. The results demonstrated that the carbonate content of the solid residues decreased gradually at elevated heat-temperatures and at 350 oC only few polyether linkages were observed.