Influence of ozone treatment on structure and thermal properties of bis-2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate-based copolymers

Polyesters are a particularly interesting group of polymers because of their ester bonds in the main chain, which are sensitive to degradation. It has been shown that aromatic polyesters [eg. poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)] can be degraded when they are copolymerized with aliphatic polyesters. In this regard, the objective of our previous study was to obtain and investigate new copolymers with some fragments of PET and its hydrolytic degradation. In this work, the impact of ozone degradation on properties of bis-2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate-based copolymers was researched. Apart from the bis-2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate, the copolymers comprised oligomers of lactic acid and glycolic acid in different combination. During ozone degradation, samples were kept for 24 h in atmosphere containing 0.51 vol.% of ozone. Structure changes were determined by means of FTIR spectroscopy. In the IR spectra of ozonised samples, new bonds characteristic for ozonised polymers were observed. Thermal properties of copolymers before and after degradation process were reviewed based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry. DSC results revealed that melting point increased, especially for copolymers displaying higher quantity of PET units.