ALKALI HYDROLYSIS OF POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE COPOLYMERIZED WITH ADIPIC ACID

Abstract

In the previous paper we reported that the rate constant of dissolution by alkali hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate copolymers prepared by substitutions with adipic acid up to 30 mol% increased with increasing comonomer content up to 5 mol%, decreased up to 10 mol%, and then increased up to 30 mol%.
It was found in this study that the irregular change of the rate constant mentioned above was intensified by increasing the alkali concentration from 2% to 20%, and by increasing the temperature from 60°C to 90°C. The apparent activation energy for the dissolution decreased with increasing comonomer content up to 10 mol% and then increased up to 30 mol%.