Kinetics and mechanism of the thermal degradation for the synthesis of poly(norbornene sulfone)s by two different polymerization methods

The recent development of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) polymerization has seen a renaissance in its chemistry, especially poly(olefin sulfone)s from the copolymerization of SO 2 , and unsaturated hydrocarbons can be found to have many applications, including transient electronic packaging, drug delivery, and electron beam-resistant materials. In this work, a type of functional poly(norbornene sulfone) was synthesized via two different polymerization methods. Aiming to understanding the effects of different polymerization methods on poly(olefin sulfone)s and gain further understanding on the kinetics of poly(olefin sulfone)s's thermal instability, we investigated their detailed thermal degradation behaviors using thermogravimetry and analyzed the resultant kinetics in accordance with three kinetic models. The results supported the conclusion that although the poly(norbornene sulfone)s obtained have different activation energy, the thermal degradation kinetics are the same and also obey the D n type. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.