Study of the kinetics of thermal destruction of crossed polyethylene

This paper presents a study of the process of thermal degradation of crosslinked polyethylene. The kinetics of polymer decomposition was studied by thermogravimetry. Crosslinked polyethylene showed high heat resistance to temperatures of 400 °C. The temperature range of 430-500 °C was determined for the loss of the bulk of the sample. According to thermogravimetric data, the decomposition process proceeds in a single stage and includes a large number of fracture, cyclization, dehydrogenation, and other reactions. The process of pyrolysis of a crosslinked polymer in a stationary-bed metal reactor was investigated. The influence of the process temperature on the yield of solid, liquid, and gaseous pyrolysis products was investigated. The optimum process temperature was 500 °C. At this temperature, the yield of liquid and gaseous products was 85.0 and 12.5% (mass.), Respectively. Samples of crosslinked polyester decomposed almost completely. The amount of carbon-containing residue was 3...