Thermal oxidation of poly(Dicyclopentadiene) – Decomposition of hydroperoxides

Thin unstabilized PDCPD film were thermally oxidized in ovens at several temperatures ranging from 50 °C to 120 °C. Hydroperoxide concentration was monitored by DSC. It was observed that hydroperoxides concentration reaches a plateau with short induction times, for example around 8 h at 50 °C. This plateau occurs at very high concentration, around about 1 mol l−1 at 50 °C. In order to study both the chemical mechanisms and the kinetics of hydroperoxides decomposition, oxidized samples were thermally aged in an inert atmosphere to destroy hydroperoxides. For initially high concentrations corresponding to the “plateau”, it was shown that hydroperoxides decompose following a bimolecular process, the rate constant of which being calculated from the hydroperoxide depletion curves. The comparison of samples containing different polymerization catalyst amounts suggested the co-existence of an unimolecular process. This process mainly occurs at low hydroperoxides concentrations and slightly influences the overall oxidation process.