Studies on the thermal degradation elevator effect

In my paper presented at the 1959 Conference on Electrical Insulation¹, it was reported that a sudden increase in the rate of weight loss of polychlorotrifluoroethylene, known as CTFE, was observed after heating had been conducted for a period of time. As shown in figure 1, the phenomenon was observed to occur between 840 and 1000 hours of heating at 235°C. A corresponding increase in the rate of molecular weight degradation was also apparent.