Weather Parameters that Affect Plastics Lifetime

WEATHER PARAMETERS THAT AFFECT PLASTICS LIFETIME 

During natural weathering, plastics are exposed to solar radiation (primarily UV radiation), heat, moisture (dew, rain, humidity), pollutants (aerosols, acid rain, ozone), and wind. These climatic factors vary so widely over Earth s surface that weathering of plastics is not always exactly predictable. Therefore, plastic performance varies with changes in climatic conditions [6]. 

Lifetime of polymers exposed to natural euvironmeut cannot be predicted accurately because of complexity of the natural weathering phenomenon and multitude of weather parameters interacting simultaneously [7]. A brief discussion of the important factors that mainly contribute to degradative processes during natural weathering follows. 

Plastic films exposed to natural weather undergoes photo-oxidative reactions. Sunlight, together with oxygen, initiates the chemical reactions in the polymer matrix. The important aspects of sunlight include sunshine duration, total solar radiation, and UV radiation that may be used in modeling of the degradative processes [6-8], 

The exdaterrestrial radiation of the sun is largely constant. The intensity of radiation depends on the angle of incidence. The changes in the intensity as a result of the tilt of Earth s axis and the rotation of Earth in a daily as well as annual cycle are linked to the geographic latitudes where radiations are monitored [11]. 

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WEATHER PARAMETERS THAT AFFECT PLASTICS LIFETIME... 

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