Analytical techniques for thermal endurance characterization of polyolefin-based materials

Isothermal differential calorimetry and isothermal thermogravimetric analysis are used as analytical techniques for short-term thermal endurance characterization of polymeric materials. These techniques are applied to a nearly pure olefin (crosslinked polyethylene) and a polyolefin-based material (a polyolefin blend containing a flame retardant). It is shown that thermogravimetric analysis provides satisfactory results, independently of the degradation reaction, while calorimetry proves to be effective only for polymers in which oxidation is the largely prevailing degradation mechanism.