Thermal behavior and structural study of ZrO2/poly(ε-caprolactone) hybrids synthesized via sol-gel route
The thermal behavior of pure ZrO2 and four ZrO2-based organic-inorganic hybrids (OIHs) containing increasing amount (6, 12, 24 and 50 wt%) of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) (named Z, ZP6, ZP12, ZP24 and ZP50 respectively) has been studied by simultaneous thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The FTIR analysis of the gas mixture evolved at defined temperatures from the samples submitted to the TG experiments identified the mechanism of each thermally activated process.