Abstract: Silicon-containing aryl acetylene resin (PSA) is a new type of high-temperature resistant resin with excellent oxidation resistance, whereas antioxidant reaction mechanism of PSA resin under ultra-high temperatures still remains unclear. Herein, the oxidation behavior and mechanisms of PSA resin are systematically investigated combining kinetic analysis and ReaxFF molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Thermogravimetric analysis indicates that the oxidation process of PSA resin undergoes two main steps: oxidative mass gain and oxidative degradation. The distributed activation energy model (DAEM) is employed for describing oxidation processes and the best-fit one is obtained using genetic algorithms and differential evolution. DAEM model demonstrates that the oxidative weight gain stage is dominated by two virtual reactants and the oxidative degradation stage consists of three virtual reactants. Correspondingly, the observation of MD reaction pathways indicates that oxygen oxidation of unsaturated structures occurs in the initial stage, which results in the formation of PSA resin oxides. Furthermore, cracked pieces react with O₂ to generate CO and other chemicals in the second step. The resin matrix's great antioxidation resilience is illustrated by the formation of SiO₂. The analysis based on MD simulations exhibits an efficient computational proof with the experiments and DAEM methods. Based on the results, a two-stage reaction mechanism is proposed, which provides important theoretical support for the subsequent study of the oxidation behavior of silica-based resins.

Key words: PSA resin, Oxidative degradation, Thermogravimetric analysis, DAEM reaction kinetics, ReaxFF simulation

摘要： Silicon-containing aryl acetylene resin (PSA) is a new type of high-temperature resistant resin with excellent oxidation resistance, whereas antioxidant reaction mechanism of PSA resin under ultra-high temperatures still remains unclear. Herein, the oxidation behavior and mechanisms of PSA resin are systematically investigated combining kinetic analysis and ReaxFF molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Thermogravimetric analysis indicates that the oxidation process of PSA resin undergoes two main steps: oxidative mass gain and oxidative degradation. The distributed activation energy model (DAEM) is employed for describing oxidation processes and the best-fit one is obtained using genetic algorithms and differential evolution. DAEM model demonstrates that the oxidative weight gain stage is dominated by two virtual reactants and the oxidative degradation stage consists of three virtual reactants. Correspondingly, the observation of MD reaction pathways indicates that oxygen oxidation of unsaturated structures occurs in the initial stage, which results in the formation of PSA resin oxides. Furthermore, cracked pieces react with O₂ to generate CO and other chemicals in the second step. The resin matrix's great antioxidation resilience is illustrated by the formation of SiO₂. The analysis based on MD simulations exhibits an efficient computational proof with the experiments and DAEM methods. Based on the results, a two-stage reaction mechanism is proposed, which provides important theoretical support for the subsequent study of the oxidation behavior of silica-based resins.

关键词: PSA resin, Oxidative degradation, Thermogravimetric analysis, DAEM reaction kinetics, ReaxFF simulation