Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
This plastic bucket has been used as an open-air flowerpot for some years. Photodegradation has made it brittle, causing part of it to break off when the bucket was moved. In polymer chemistry, photo-oxidation (sometimes: oxidative photodegradation) is the degradation of a polymer surface due to the combined action of light and oxygen. [1]
The prediction of the ageing of plastic materials is a subject that concerns both users and manufacturers. It covers plastic materials (polymers, fillers and various additives) or intermediates that are the transformers that use their thermoplastic property for the manufacture of objects by processes such as extrusion, injection molding, etc.
Characteristic DSC curve for a polyethylene, the OIT is measured. Oxidation induction time or OIT is a standardized test performed in a DSC which measures the level of thermal stabilization of the material tested. The time between melting and the onset of decomposition in isothermal conditions is measured.
Polymer degradation is the reduction in the physical properties of a polymer, such as strength, caused by changes in its chemical composition.Polymers and particularly plastics are subject to degradation at all stages of their product life cycle, including during their initial processing, use, disposal into the environment and recycling. [1]
Hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS) are chemical compounds containing an amine functional group that are used as stabilizers in plastics and polymers. [1] These compounds are typically derivatives of tetramethylpiperidine and are primarily used to protect the polymers from the effects of photo-oxidation; as opposed to other forms of polymer degradation such as ozonolysis.
Although thermal degradation is defined as an oxygen free process it is difficult in practise to completely exclude oxygen. Where this is the case thermal oxidation is to be expected, leading to the formation of free radicals by way of hydroperoxides. These may then participate in thermal degradation reactions, accelerating the rate of breakdown.
A number of different methods are used to evaluate a polymer's resistance to environmental stress cracking. A common method in the polymer industry is use of the Bergen jig, which subjects the sample to variable strain during a single test. The results of this test indicate the critical strain to cracking, using only one sample. [5]
Pentaerythritol tetrakis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyhydrocinnamate): A primary antioxidant consisting of sterically hindered phenols with para-propionate groups. Primary antioxidants (also known as chain-breaking antioxidants) act as radical scavengers and remove peroxy radicals (ROO•), as well as to a lesser extent alkoxy radicals (RO•), hydroxyl radicals (HO•) and alkyl radicals (R•).