Thermal analysis of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinyl acetate) fractions

Abstract

Abstract The commercially available poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) were fractionated by precipitation to give nine and six fractions respectively. The dependence of the thermal stability of the polymer on the molecular weight of the samples was investigated by dynamic thermogravimetry in air. The percentage decomposition temperature, integral procedural decomposition temperature, and activation energy measurements revealed that the stability of PVAc was directly proportional to the molecular weight of the sample. In PVA, there was an optimum polymer size where the stability was at a maximum, and it decreased on increasing or decreasing the molecular weights.