Thermal Decomposition of Copolymers of Butyl methacrylate and Styrene Produced in a CSTR

Thermal decomposition of the copolymer of butyl methacylate(BMA) with styrene(St) was investigated. The copolymer Was obtained at 80 $^{\circ}C$ in a continuous stirred tank reactor(CSTR) using toluene and benzoyl peroxide(BPO), as solvent and initiator, respectively. The reactor volume was 0.3 liters and residence time was 3 hours. The thermal decomposition followed the second order kinetics for BMA/St copolymer. The activation energies of thermal decompositon were in the ranges of 38 ${\sim}43$ kcal/mol for BMA with St copolymer and a good additivity rule was observed with the composition of copolymer. The thermogravimetric trace curve agreed well with the theoretical calculation.