DSC and TGA study of the transitions involved in the thermal treatment of binary mixtures of PE and EVA copolymer with a crosslinking agent

The crosslinking process of PE and EVA with different concentrations of a crosslinking agent (CA) has been studied. The extent of the crosslinking has been evaluated by gel fraction and density measurements. The different transitions involved in the thermal processing and decomposition have been studied by DSC and TGA and compared for all the mixtures prepared. Mechanistic pseudo-kinetic models have been suggested and applied involving all the fractions susceptible of undergoing transitions or reactions. The models applied can be of great interest in understanding the phenomena involved, as well as in modeling the heat effects in the whole processing or pyrolysis of this type of products.