Copolymers of vinylcyclohexane with styrene: Peculiarity of thermal behavior, parameters of crystal structure, and structural transitions

Thermal behavior, the parameters of crystal structure, and the structural transitions of copolymers of vinylcyclohexane with styrene were studied. Heating in air of the copolymers and of mechanical mixtures of homopolymers results in thermooxidative destruction. For all samples, the oxidation starts at 210–220°C. The antioxidant effect on thermal stability of copolymers was studied. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) data were used to determine the melting points of homopolymers and crystal copolymers. The method of x‐ray diffraction on large scattering angles was used to determine the dimensions and type of unit cells, the degree of crystallinity, the dimensions of the coherent scattering regions (the dimensions of crystallites) of copolymers of various compositions, and to compare them to the parameters of the structure of polyvinylcyclohexane and polystyrene. Information on molecular motion intensity and structural transitions in homopolymers and copolymers with changing temperature was obtained by the spin‐probe technique.