Thermal pyrolysis products of poly-alpha-methylstyrene

An improved process for fabrication of hollow microspheres used as innertial confinement fusion targets is the decomposable mandrel technique. Thermal gravity analysis and pyrolysis gas chromatorgraph/mass spectrometry were applied to obtaining the thermal pyrolysis behavior of poly-alpha-methylstyrene with weight-average relative molecular mass of 1.14×106. Experiment indicated that the pyrolysis temperature of poly-alpha-methylstyrene covered from 260 ℃ to 320 ℃, and that of glow discharge polymer covered from 350 ℃ to 420 ℃. Poly-alpha-methylstyrene degraded mostly to its monomer, alpha-methylstyrene. Tetrahydrofuran and alpha-methylstyrene dimer were found in the pyrolysis products. Tetrahydrofuran was the solvent used in preparation of poly-alpha-methylstyrene. The mass fraction