MONOMER REACTIVITY RATIO AND THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF α-METHYL STYRENE AND GLYCIDYL METHACRYLATE COPOLYMERS

Synthesis and characterization of the copolymers （PAG） of α-methyl styrene （AMS） and glycidyl methacrylate （GMA） are presented. The copolymers of PAG were characterized by gel permeation chromatography （GPC）, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR）, nuclear magnetic resonance （^1H-NMR） and thermogravimetery （TG）. Based on the copolymer compositions determined by ^1H-NMR, the reactivity ratios of AMS and GMA were found to be 0.105 ± 0.012 and 0.883 ± 0.046 respectively by Kelen-Tudos method. TG revealed that thermal stability of the copolymers decreased with increasing the AMS content in the copolymers, which indicated that the degradation was mainly caused by the chain scission of AMS-containing structures. Under heating, the copolymers depolymerize at their weak bonds and form chain radicals, which could further initiate other chemical reactions.