Thermal stability and degradation of poly (N-phenylpropionamide) homopolymer and copolymer of N-phenylpropionamide with methyl methacrylate

Different concentrations of copolymer of (N-phenylpropionamide)(PA) with methyl 
methacrylate (MMA) were prepared and the reactivity ratio values of copolymerization were 
calculated using the 1 H-NMR technique. Thermal analysis of the copolymers showed that 
the thermal stability is an intermediate between poly (N-phenylpropionamide) and poly 
(methyl methacrylate) homopolymers. Thermal degradation products of the PPA were 
identified by GC–MS techniques. It seems that the mechanism of degradation of PPA 
homopolymer is characterized by free radical formation followed by recombination along the 
backbone chain. The activation energies of the thermal degradation of the copolymers were 
calculated using the Arrhenius relationship.