Arthur Richard Horrocks

The thermal degradation kinetics of epoxy resin, triglycidyl-p-aminophenol (TGAP), and its flame-retarded formulations are investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) under oxidative conditions and are modelled using a simple global multi-step mechanistic scheme. Experimental TGA data acquired under non-isothermal conditions is used to optimise the kinetic parameters for selected boundary linear heating rates. These optimised kinetic parameters which adequately describe the thermal degradation process of epoxy resin formulations over the defined range of experimental conditions are then applied in the prediction of mass loss profiles of investigated materials under different heating conditions.