Degradation Kinetics of Polycarbonate Composites: Kinetic Parameters and Artificial Neural Network

Abstract

In order to design a reactor, kinetics of degradation of polycarbonate/CaCO3 composites was investigated here by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), applying model-free and modelistic methods together, to obtain E, A, ΔS*, ΔH* and ΔG* (kinetic parameters). The system was tested with all the mechanisms available using non-isothermal modelistic method (Coats-Redfern). This approach allowed choosing the models, which are otherwise difficult to decide upon simply based on regression fit methods. The mechanism proposed was a simple nth order. Application of artificial neural network supported in designing a neural network could lead to a quick determination of kinetic parameters.

Keywords

• kinetics
• non-isothermal degradation
• polycarbonate
• Artificial Neural Network