Abstract

The effect of additives and complexing agents on the synthesis and thermo-oxidation stability of poly(butylene terephthalate)

Author(s): Antonio Massa, Valeria Bugatti, Arrigo Scettri, Socrate Contessa

In this paper we report a comparative study about the effect of several additives and complexing agents on the synthesis and stability of poly(butyleneterephthalate) (PBT) synthesized in the presence of the standard catalyst Ti(O-nBu)4. Among the used additives, very surprisingly acetylacetone showed a deep influence on the catalysis and the properties of the final PBT. In particular the polymer was obtained in a shorter reaction time and with higher thermo-oxidation stability. On the contrary the simple Ti(O-nBu)4, thewell-known standard catalyst, resulted themore deleterious for the properties of the polymer.Moreover, for a useful comparison, a stabilized PBT was synthesized in the presence of Ti(O-nBu)4 with the addition of the stabilizer U626.