Aging of plastics

F. Sitek, 11th Conference of the Danube Countries on Natural and Artificial Aging of Plastics, Dubrovnik (Yugoslavia), October 1978. 

Long before the age of plastics and nylons, I. G. Farben-industrie was known to many Americans as simply the world s best druggist. Every reputable pharmacy, every physician s bag, every good family medicine cabinet, stocks some of Farben s 6000 medicines. The firm invented a drug that is still the best cure for epilepsy. They made atabrine, the quinine-substitute for treating malaria. And from the aspirin tablet alone, I. G. Farben made a vast fortune. 

Rainwater, K.A., Lightfoot, J.M., and Richardson, B.R. (1998) Literature Review of the Lifetime of DOE Materials Ageing of Plastic Bonded Explosives and the Explosives and Polymers Contained Therein (ed. A.L. Woods), Amarillo National Resource Center for Plutonium, Tx. Report No.ANRCP 1998, 12. 

People have long defined civilizations in terms of the materials societies have used to build and make objects. Historians often divide human history into periods such as the Old, Middle, and New Stones Ages the Bronze Age the Iron Age and, much later on in history, the Age of Plastics. 

Although many people may not think of the 21st century as the Age of Plastics, the invention and development of new types of commercially useful polymers continues, and at a significant pace. Each year, dozens of new polymer products, usually with very specific properties and applications, are patented in the United States and the rest of the world. 

The age of plastics might be traced to a day in 1846 when Christian Schoenbein, a chemistry professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland, spilled a flask containing nitric and sulfuric acids. In his hurry to clean up the spill, he grabbed his wife s cotton apron, which he then rinsed out and hung up in front of a hot stove to dry. Instead of drying, the apron flared and burned. 

In the next section, we shall encounter another example of free-radical addition-polymerization— which has played a key part in the creation of this age of plastics. 

Gardner, R.J. Martin, J.R. Humid aging of plastics effect of molecular weight on mechanical properties and fracture morphology of polycarbonate. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 1979, 24 (5), 1269-1280. 

DIN 53 387 (1989). Artificial weathering and ageing of plastics and elastomers by exposure to filtered xenon arc radiation. Deutsches Institut fiTr Normung e.V., 10772 Berlin, Germany (E-mail postmaster din.de). ... 

ASTM D3045, Practice for heat aging of plastics without load. 1992. 

Now, the UVB radiation is likely to have harmful effects on the health of human beings causing melanomas, cataracts, erythemas, by decreasing the effectiveness of the immune system and causing genetic mutations it also affects animals and plants and is a cause of the ageing of plastics, paints and varnishes. 

Carbon compounds hold the key to life on Earth. Consider what the world would be like if all carbon compounds were removed the result would be much like the barren surface of the Moon. If carbon compounds were removed from the human body, there would be nothing left except water and a small residue of minerals. The same would be true for all living things. Carbon compounds are also an integral part of our lifestyle. Fossil fuels, foods, and most drugs are made of carbon compounds. Since we live in an age of plastics and synthetic fibers, our clothes, appliances, and most other consumer goods contain a significant portion of carbon compounds. 

The first semisynthetic polymer, celluloid, was prepared by Alexander Parkes in 1855. Adolph Spitteler and W. Kirsch prepared plastic from milk protein (casein) and formaldehyde in 1899. Buttons, handles, pens and piano keys were made from the new material and it was patented under the name Galalith (aka Erinoid in the United Kingdom). Fully synthetic Bakehte was fist formulated by Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944) in 1907, and the age of plastics began with the discovery and large-scale industrial production of vulcanized rubber (1910), PVC (1926), polystyrene (1931), synthetic robber (1931-1935), polyethylene (1933), nylon... 

When I was a child, my father, very much a traditionalist, said that he wanted things made of metal, not that cheap imported plastic stuff. Wow, would he be shocked today. I m surrounded by synthetic textiles (clothing and carpet, for example), 1 ride around in autos that are fast becoming cocoons of plastic, my home is filled with plastic bottles of all shapes, sizes, and hardness, and I have friends with knees or other parts that have been either replaced or enhanced with polymers. I cook with a skillet that has a nonstick surface, I use a nylon spatula, I watch a TV with a plastic case, and I go to sleep on a foam pillow. Our world is truly part of the Age of Plastics. 

D 3030 VOLATILE MATTER OF VINYL CHLORIDE RESINS D 3045 HEAT AGING OF PLASTICS WITHOUT LOAD D 3124 VINYLIDENE UNSATURATION NUMBER BY FTIR D 3291 COMPATIBILITY OF PLASTICIZERS/COMPRESSION D 3349 ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT/PE CARBON BLACK D 3351 GEL COUNT OF PLASTIC FILMS... 

Heat Aging of Plastics Without Load, Rec. Practice for, (D 3045) 35 Thermal Evaluation of Rigid Electrical Insulating Materials (D 2304) 39... 

But, the greatest growth of BPA production started at the beginnings of the Age of Plastic in the 1950s. At that time, industrial fabrication of polycarbonates and epoxy resins started [12], and Bisphenol-A became the primary monomer for their synthesis. As a difunctional monomer, later on BPA became one of the most important raw material used for synthesis of other polymers as well as polymer additives. Now, BPA is also used in the production of polyesters, polysulphones and polyether ketones. Its use for formulation and preparation of polymer additives (e.g., antioxidants, plasticizers, polymerization inhibitors and halogenated flame retardants) is still its another important application. 

In the 1930s polymer science exploded in many laboratories around the world, the age of plastics had arrived. Hermann Staudinger looked upon it with joy and pride. However, he personally could not give up the fight for his macromolecules, supported rigorously with Baltic patriotism by his second wife Magda (nee... 

At last, it is necessary to specify to one more appreciable achievement in the field of aging and stabilization of PVC in a solution. In real conditions the basic reason of the sharp accelerated aging of plasticized materials and products is the oxidation of the solvent by oxygen of air (Fig. 5, ciuwe 3). 

The aging of plastics is influenced by external and internal factors External factors Temperature... 

Virtually all models currently used for describing the aging of plastics are based on the Arrhenius equation. 

The RILEM Commission APB 34 (Ageing of Polymers in Buildings) had the task of compiling criteria for the aging of plastics in buildings [154]. 

DIN EN 60811 [331] includes specifications for testing the aging of plastics insulations, sheathing, and cable-element materials in electrical and fiber-optic cables for power distribution and communication facilities, including cables used onboard ships. 

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