Thermal properties of copolymers of 2-Acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulphonic acid with some vinyl monomers

2‐Acrylamido‐2‐methylpropanesulphonic acid (AMPS) was copolymerized with both acrylic acid (AA) and vinyl acetate (VA) at different compositions. The thermal behaviors of the resulted copolymers, PAMPS, PAA and PVA were studied using thermogravimetric analyses. In all cases of homopolymers and copolymers, there are two degradation stages. The observed enhancement of the thermal properties of the copolymers compared with that of PAMPS are attributed to intramolecular cyclization reactions and ring formations. The apparent activation energies of the decomposition were determined and correlated to the sequence of the thermal stabilities of the various polymers.