In this work, we report on the thermal stability of nanohybrid polyurethane (PU)/polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) elastomers analyzed by evolved gas analysis (EGA). Functionalized POSS were chemically introduced into PU structure as pendant groups (1,2-propanediolizobutyl POSS (PDI-POSS), disilanollsobutyl POSS (DSI-POSS)) or as chemical crosslinks (octa(3-hydroxy-3-methylbutyldimethylsiloxy) POSS (OCTA-POSS)).

EGA results of the thermal degradation of the PU/POSS hybrid elastomers have demonstrated that the hybrid systems are slightly more thermally stable when compared to the unmodified PU matrix, as evidenced by reduced amounts of volatile degradation products. It was found that the thermal decomposition of polyurethane materials reinforced with POSS starts from about 300 °C via urethane bonds breakage. In lower temperature region the modified polyurethanes decompose to some low molecular weight compounds and intermediates with hydroxyl and amine groups. At temperatures above 350 °C evolution of hydrocarbons, aldehydes, alcohols, amines, cyclic species and low molecular weight compounds - carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water and ammonia was recorded.

Furthermore, the inclusion of POSS in the PU network directly influences the degradation pathways of both the soft and hard block components of the elastomers – it has been observed that the POSS/PU hybrid systems show reduced levels of CO₂ and changed levels of characteristic ion fragments, e.g. m/z 42 related to hydrocarbons and THF.

在这项工作中，我们报告了通过逸出气体分析（EGA）分析的纳米混合聚氨酯（PU）/多面体低聚倍半硅氧烷（POSS）弹性体的热稳定性。将官能化的POSS作为侧基（1,2-丙二醇偶氮丁基POSS（PDI-POSS），二硅烷基异丁基POSS（DSI-POSS））或作为化学交联剂（八（3-羟基-3-甲基丁基二甲基甲硅烷氧基）POSS（OCTA） -POSS））。

EGA对PU / POSS杂化弹性体进行热降解的结果表明，与未改性的PU基体相比，杂化系统的热稳定性稍强，这是由挥发性降解产物的减少所证明的。发现通过POSS增强的聚氨酯材料的热分解通过氨基甲酸酯键的断裂从约300℃开始。在较低温度区域，改性聚氨酯分解为一些低分子量的化合物以及带有羟基和胺基的中间体。在高于350°C的温度下，记录到碳氢化合物，醛，醇，胺，环状物质和低分子量化合物（一氧化碳，二氧化碳，水和氨）的释放。

此外，在PU网络中包含POSS直接影响弹性体的软嵌段和硬嵌段组分的降解途径-观察到，POSS / PU杂化系统显示出降低的CO ₂水平和改变的特征离子水平与烃和THF有关的片段，例如m / z 42。