Recent work on the thermal degradation of acrylate and methacrylate homopolymers and copolymers
The principal degradation reactions which occur in polymethacrylates are depolymerization to monomer and ester decomposition yielding methacrylic acid units in the polymer and liberating the corresponding olefin. The greater the number of β hydrogen atoms in the ester group the greater the tendency towards ester decomposition. There is also a strong tendency to ester decomposition in polyacrylates incorporating large numbers of β hydrogen atoms but the degradation processes which occur in primary esters are much more complex. The mechanisms of all these reactions are discussed. The behaviour of acrylate-methacrylate copolymers throws further light on these basic processes. In the light of an accumulation of experimental results an integrated mechanism for the thermal degradation of homopolymers and copolymers of acrylates and methacrylates is presented.