Thermogravimetric analysis of cellulose: Effect of the molecular weight on thermal decomposition

Cellulose fractions of different molecular weights were subjected to dynamic thermogravimetric analysis in a nitrogen atmosphere. From the experimental data, activation energies and reaction orders were obtained following the Freeman–Carroll and Broido methods. The thermal stabilities of the samples were estimated taking into account the values of T_i, T_max, and E_a. The results show that thermal stability increases as the molecular weight increases. It was also found that the cellulose pyrolisis process cannot be described as having a single value of E_a over the entire pyrolisis range. The dependence of E_a. The dependence of E_a on molecular weight is also discussed.