Influence of early thermal-oxidative ageing on the structure and properties of polyoxymethylene copolymer

Thermal-oxidative ageing of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymer in the oven at 100°C for 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14 and 21 days and the influence of early thermal-oxidative ageing on POM structure and properties were studied by means of wide-angle X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and tensile test. Based on the results, we found that the early thermal-oxidative ageing of POM copolymer can be divided into three regions. The region I is the initial 3 days. In this region, some molecular chains rearranged, resulting in internal stress relaxation, increase of crystallinity degree and grain size due to the perfection of crystal structure; both extended chain crystal (ECC) and folded chain crystal (FCC) increased and ECC grew faster than FCC. The region II is from 3 days to 10 days, and in this region, chain scission took place in amorphous region and led to chemi-crystallization. The region III is after 10 days. In this region, the structure and performance of POM copolymer reached a stable situation at this stage. In this work, the difference between skin and core were also analysed.