Characterization and thermal decomposition kinetics of a polymer composite from the dimethacrylate group

In this study, the chemical, morphological structure of a cross-linked polymer composite material produced by the reaction of a mixture of BisGMA, TEGDMA in SiO2 matrix, which has commercially important and used in different areas, was investigated. TG-DTG was performed in the range of 25 degrees C-800 degrees C at different heating rates to investigate its thermal behavior. The activation energy is calculated according to KAS, FWO and Friedman methods. For region 1, it is 211 kJ/mol according to KAS and FWO, it is 218 kJ/mol according to Friedman. For region 2, it is 176 kJ/mol (KAS), 180 kJ/mol (FWO) and 135 kJ/mol (Friedman). It was observed from XRD, SEM-EDS and FTIR analyses that there was a significant amount of SiO2, it was distributed homogeneously in the structure, SEM analysis supported the situation, and the decomposition started after 280 degrees C. With TG-DTG, it was obtained that the decomposition of the polymer composite consisted of two steps and there was an approximate agreement between the activation energy values calculated according to KAS, FWO and Friedman. In particular, revealing the degradation behavior of the composite material (with the presence of inorganic SiO2 in the organic structure) at low/high temperatures may be of particular importance for future studies.