Thermal stability and degradation of poly (N-phenylpropionamide) homopolymer and copolymer of N-phenylpropionamide with methyl methacrylate

Different concentrations of copolymer of (N-phenylpropionamide) (PA) with methyl methacrylate (MMA) were prepared and the reactivity ratio values of copolymerization were calculated using the 1 H-NMR technique. Thermal analysis of the copolymers showed that the thermal stability is an intermediate between poly(N-phenylpropionamide) and poly(methyl methacrylate) homopolymers. Thermal degradation products of the PPA were identified by GC–MS techniques. It seems that the mechanism of degradation of PPA homopolymer is characterized by free radical formation followed by recombination along the backbone chain. The activation energies of the thermal degradation of the copolymers were calculated using the Arrhenius relationship.