Preparation and Thermal Decomposition of Polyacrylamide and its Derivatives by Plasma-initiated Polymerization

Polyacrylamide (PAM), poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA) and poly(N,N-diethylacryl-amide) (PDEA) were synthesized by plasma-initiated polymerization. Both wet and dry polymers were prepared. The states of the water absorbed in the wet and dry samples were studied directly by means of TG, and the stabilities of the dry polymers in the process of thermal treatment were investigated by FT-IR. The activation energy of release of the bonded water was calculated by the Kissinger method. The water absorbed in the polymers was found to be in two states, i.e. weakly-bonded water and bonded water, and the absorbed water content varied with the monomer concentration, the plasma duration time and the type of polymer.