Abstract
It is shown, on the basis of a large amount of experimental work, how the thermal stability of polymers depends on the strength of the bonds between the atoms forming the macromolecule, on the structure of the chain unit in the macromolecule, and also on the structure of the polymer molecule itself as a whole. Especially detailed attention is given to the effect on thermal stability of such structural features of the chain unit as the presence of side-chains, halogen atoms, and other elements (boron, silicon, phosphorus, various metals), the positions and number of these substituents, and also groups of aromatic character, including benzene rings and various heterocycles. Those structural features which tend to increase the thermal stability of polymers are elucidated.
An important place in the review is occupied by examining the dependence of thermal stability on such structural aspects of the macromolecule itself as the regularity in the arrangement of monomer units along its chain, the isomerism of substitution in the aromatic ring, the presence of branching and cross-linking, copolymerisation, and also the nature of end-groups, etc. A list of 100 references is given.