FTIR spectra of composites were recorded in the wavenumber range of 650e4000 cm#1 using a Nicolet 6700 FTIR spectrometer with a spectral resolution of 2 cm#1 and scan times of 32. The thin slices with a thickness of 20 mm for FTIR measurement were cut from the center of injection-molded samples. The samples for XRD analysis were loaded into the sample holder (10 10 1 mm3) and their XRD patterns were recorded in the 2e70 2q range at steps of 0.02 with a scanning speed of 4/min on a Rigaku Ultima IV X-ray diffractometer, equipped with a Cu tube and a scintillation detector beam.
The morphologies of the char residues obtained from TGA were observed by using a JEOL JSM-7500F field emission scanning elec- tron microscope (FE-SEM). EDS was simultaneously employed to analyze the elements content of the char residues. The chemical structure of the char residues was confirmed by FTIR and XPS. FTIR spectra were recorded on the Nicolet 6700 FTIR spectrometer mentioned above using KBr pellets. XPS measurement was carried out on a Thermo ESCALAB 250Xi spectrometer using an Al Ka exciting radiation.
TGA/DSC measurement was conducted by using a Mettler- Toledo TGA/DSC 1 simultaneous thermal analyzer to investigate the thermal degradation behavior. Samples (8e15 mg) were heated from room temperature to 700 C at a heating rate of 10 C/min under nitrogen flow (40 ml/min). TGA/FTIR analysis was performed on a Netzsch STA449C/3MFC/G simultaneous thermal analyzer coupled with a Bruker T27 infrared spectrometer (IR) under flowing nitrogen with a flow rate of 50 ml/min. Samples (20e25 mg) were heated from 50 to 700 C at 10 C/min and held for 4 min at 700 C. The volatiles produced during degradation were transferred to the IR via a gas transfer line (250 C) and their IR spectra were recorded in range of 650e4000 cm#1 at a resolution of 2 cm#1.
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to study the ther- mal degradation kinetics of PC and its composites. Samples (10e15 mg) were heated from 50 to 600 C at heating rates of 5, 10, 15, 20 C/min under a continuous nitrogen flow (40 ml/min) by using a Perkin Elmer Pyris 1 thermogravimetric analyzer