Studies on Reaction of Polypropylene

IV. On the Effect of Organic Sulfur Compounds in Thermal Degradation

Abstract

The thermal degradation of polypropylene at the presence of organic sulfur compounds was studied. Organic sulfur compounds used were tetramethylthiuram disulfide (TT), tetramethylthiuram monosulfide (TS), dibenzothiazole (DM) and 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (M). These compounds showed the accelerating effect for the thermal degradation of polypropylene, and the order of these effectiveness was as follows: DM>M>TT>TS.
The activation energy for the scission reaction of polymer chain at the presence of 1% TT by weight was 23.7 kcal/mol.TT showed the stabilizing effect for the oxidation of polypropylene not only before but also after, the degradation and the other sulfur compounds made polypropylene susceptible of oxidation.