Pyrolysis Character of Bus Seat Cushion Materials with TGA

This study aims to understand the pyrolysis character of four seat cushion materials in bus with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), including artificial leather cover (ALC), polyester textile cover (PTC), thin foam (TF), and flexible polyurethane foam (PUF). The experiment was conducted at four levels of heating rate from room temperature to 1,000°C under nitrogen atmosphere. The derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) curves indicate that only one reaction occurs in PTC, two reactions for ALC and PUF, and three reactions for TF. The kinetic parameters were calculated using Kissinger method. The activation energy for first reaction of PTC, TF, and PUF are approximately at the same level (194, 190, and 177 kJmol⁻¹, respectively). While the first reaction of ALC has the lowest activation energy (113.7 kJmol⁻¹) indicating ALC is relatively easy to decompose.