Influence of Iron Oxides on Thermal Stability of Tert-Butyl Peroxybenzoate

Abstract

Tert-butyl peroxybenzoate (TBPB), a common C-type organic peroxide (OP), is widely used in numerous fields of industrial production. The presence of impurities has been identified as a factor affecting the thermal stability of OPs, heightening the interest in OPs and their reactivity. This study scrutinized the thermal decomposition effect of various iron oxides (Fe2O3, FeO, and Fe3O4) on TBPB by simultaneous thermal analyser (STA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The data from the experiments formed a sound linear fit, and the thermokinetic parameters of TBPB under the action of the samples with iron oxides, were calculated. The apparent activation energy obtained by the Kissinger and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods agreed that iron oxides attenuated the thermal stability of TBPB. FTIR was used to analyse changes in the characteristic peaks of the product, and possible reaction paths were calculated by Gaussian software numerically simulates the decomposition reaction of TBPB from the perspective of molecular structure, calculates the reaction heat and energy barrier values ​​to evaluate the effect of iron oxide on the decomposition pathway of TBPB. The results provide valuable reference values ​​that help prevent accidental combustion and explosions. In addition, the research results also provide a reference for process safety engineers to correctly select materials when manufacturing safety and containment equipment.

Keywords: Organic peroxideThermokinetic parametersApparent activation energyReaction pathsMolecular structure perspective