Polymers chemical stability

Chemical degradation refers to the breakdown of polymer molecules, either through short-term attack by contaminants, such as oxygen and iron, or through longer-term attack to the molecular backbone by processes such as hydrolysis. The latter is caused by the intrinsic instability of molecules even in the absence of oxygen or other attacking species. In other words, polymer chemical stability is mainly controlled by oxidation-reduction reactions and hydrolysis. 

Polymer Chemical Stabilization Processes. Cellular rubber and ebonite are produced by chemical stabilization processes. Most elastomers can be made into either open-celled or closed-celled materials. Natural rubber, SBR, nitrile rubber, polychloroprene, chlorosulfonated polyethylene, ethylene-propylene terpolymers, butyl rubbers, and polyacrylates have been successfully used (110-112). 

Chemical Stabilization. The chemistry of the system determines both the rate at which the polymer phase is formed and the rate at which it changes from a viscous fluid to a dimensionally stable cross-linked polymer phase. It also governs the rate at which the blowing agent is activated, whether it is due to temperature rise or to insolubilization in the Hquid phase. 

Chemical Stabilization Processes. This method is more versatile and thus has been used successfully for more materials than the physical stabilization process. Chemical stabilization is more adaptable for condensation polymers than for vinyl polymers because of the fast yet controUable curing reactions and the absence of atmospheric inhibition. 

Dehydration or Chemical Stabilization. The removal of surface silanol (Si—OH) bonds from the pore network results in a chemically stable ultraporous soHd (step F, Fig. 1). Porous gel—siHca made in this manner by method 3 is optically transparent, having both interconnected porosity and sufficient strength to be used as unique optical components when impregnated with optically active polymers, such as fiuors, wavelength shifters, dyes, or nonlinear polymers (3,23). 

Synthetic rubbers (elastomers) are long-chain polymers with special chemical and physical as well as mechanical properties. These materials have chemical stability, high abrasion resistance, strength, and good dimensional stability. Many of these properties are imparted to the... 

The high chemical stability of many polymers is both a blessing and a curse. Heat resistance, wear resistance, and long life are valuable characteristics of clothing fibers, bicycle helmets, underground pipes, food wrappers, and many other items. Yet when those items outlive their usefulness, disposal becomes a problem. 

Poly(p-pheny lene)s, PPPs, constitute the prototype of rigid-rod polymers and are currently being intensively investigated [1]. The key role of PPPs follows from their conceptually simple and appealing molecular structure, from their chemical stability, and from their superior physical properties [2], In turn, this is the result of important advances made in aromatic chemistry over the last few years. The following section gives an overview of the most common methods to generate poly(p-phenylene)s via different synthetic approaches. 

Additional chemical stability can be given to PPVs by substitution at the vinyl-ene carbons. Thus, CN-PPV and PPV-DP are more stable than their parent polymers [173]. Carter et al. [172] showed that a random copolymer of PPV containing non-conjugated segments is considerably more stable to photooxidation than the fully conjugated polymer. Of course, the electrical and optical properties are also altered by these substitutions. 

Membranes used for the pressure driven separation processes, microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO), as well as those used for dialysis, are most commonly made of polymeric materials. Initially most such membranes were cellulosic in nature. These ate now being replaced by polyamide, polysulphone, polycarbonate and several other advanced polymers. These synthetic polymers have improved chemical stability and better resistance to microbial degradation. Membranes have most commonly been produced by a form of phase inversion known as immersion precipitation.11 This process has four main steps ... 

Chemical and electrochemical techniques have been applied for the dimensionally controlled fabrication of a wide variety of materials, such as metals, semiconductors, and conductive polymers, within glass, oxide, and polymer matrices (e.g., [135-137]). Topologically complex structures like zeolites have been used also as 3D matrices [138, 139]. Quantum dots/wires of metals and semiconductors can be grown electrochemically in matrices bound on an electrode surface or being modified electrodes themselves. In these processes, the chemical stability of the template in the working environment, its electronic properties, the uniformity and minimal diameter of the pores, and the pore density are critical factors. Typical templates used in electrochemical synthesis are as follows ... 

Donovan and Pescatore described another fast-gradient approach with very short columns (20x4.6 mm internal diameter) packed with a porous polymer (known as ODP columns) [38]. This chromatographic support presents a high chemical stability and can be used at pH 2, 10 or 13 to analyze neutral analytes. This procedure allowed a relatively high flow rate (2mLmin ) and a gradient from 10 to 100% methanol in only 7 min. The mathematical treatment was simplified and based on the direct transformation of retention time to log P. For this purpose, two standards (toluene and triphenylene) were used to minimize retention time variations from run-to-run and instrument-to-instrument, and to facilitate the... 

Organotin epoxide monomers 30,100 104) containing fairly reactive oxirane rings and both C=C and Sn—C bonds can be used as starting components for the synthesis of new polymers, chemically active stabilizers and biocides for polymeric materials, e.g. for PVC. 

I Iliopoulos, R Audebert, C Quivoron. Reversible polymer complexes stabilized through hydrogen bonds. In P Russo, ed. Reversible Polymeric Gels and Related Systems. ACS Symp Ser 350. Washington, DC American Chemical Society, 1987, pp 72-86. 

Chemical and thermal stabilizers both inactivate the byproducts of degradation processes, preventing them from causing further damage to the polymer. Their chemical structure and mobility in the part define their effectiveness in any given polymeric system. The most common type of chemical stabilizers are antioxidants. 

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