Thermal Stabilities and the Thermal Degradation Kinetics of Poly(ε-Caprolactone)

The thermal degradation behavior of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) in nitrogen atmosphere was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. TGA/DTG/DSC curves display only one main degradation step. TGA/FTIR results indicate PCL decomposes into CO2 and hexanoic acid before 500°C. The activation energies were estimated by iterative isoconversional procedure. Friedman plot indicates a change in degradation mechanism. The differential method and integral method were used to confirm the exact kinetic mechanism. The best models are Dn (n = 1, 2, 3, and 4) when 0.08≤a≤0.2 and R2 when 0.25≤a≤0.8.