Thermal analysis methods (TG, DTG, DTA, and DSC) are often used for determination of the degradation processes that take place in the progressive heating of a polymer or a polymeric material as well as for evaluation of the kinetic parameters of each degradation step. The kinetic parameters can be correlated with the thermal or thermo-oxidative stability of the investigated material and/or can be used for prediction of the degradation behaviour of the material in various conditions (i.e. other heating rates than those used for the evaluation of kinetic parameters; isothermal conditions).
Though in many cases the thermal and thermo-oxidative degradation of a polymer or a polymeric material is a complex process involving successive and/or parallel steps, kinetic analysis of non-isothermal data is generally performed by using a single step kinetic equation