Non-Isothermal Degradation Kinetics of High Energy Protons Irradiated Polyvinyl Butyral

This research is aimed to undertake a comparative study on stability and thermal degradation kinetics of un-irradiated and high energy protons irradiated polyvinyl butyral (PVB) based on weight loss analysis and non-isothermal approaches. The weight loss by the un-irradiated PVB upon heating was found to be in two stages but due to high energy protons accelerated exposure following by chemical etching, this weight loss transition proceeds in a major one stage with increases in the highest rate of weight loss temperature. In addition, the samples were analyzed using the FT-IR spectroscopy technique to illustrate the stability of irradiated-chemical etched PVB, and also elucidate the mechanism of degradation. The effect of irradiation on the surface of PVB films was investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) after and before irradiation. The kinetic triplet and other related thermal kinetic parameters of un-irradiated and irradiated-chemical etched PVB films are presented and compared together. The results showed that due to high energy protons irradiation exposure following by chemical etching, the thermal stability of the PVB film is significantly increased.