A Comparative Study of the Photodegradation of Two Series of Cyclic Olefin Copolymers

A series of commercial cyclic olefin copolymers (COC), namely, ethylene-norbornene (E-NB) and ethylene-tetracyclododecene (E-TD), were processed as thin films with thicknesses of 25 μm by an extrusion process. The photodegradation of neat and formulated films with different metal stearates (Fe, Co,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mario H. Gutiérrez-Villarreal, Sara A. Zavala-Betancourt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2017-01-01
Series:International Journal of Polymer Science
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/1870814
Description
Summary:A series of commercial cyclic olefin copolymers (COC), namely, ethylene-norbornene (E-NB) and ethylene-tetracyclododecene (E-TD), were processed as thin films with thicknesses of 25 μm by an extrusion process. The photodegradation of neat and formulated films with different metal stearates (Fe, Co, and Mn) was investigated using an ultraviolet (UV) light lamp (340 nm) for a period of 30 days in an accelerated weathering tester model QUV from Q-LAB according to the ASTM D 5208-01 standard practice. Changes in carbonyl index (CI) and tensile properties were used to evaluate the photodegradation of the films and other properties, such as Tg variation by DSC, were also analyzed. The present study reveals that (E-NB) copolymers show higher sensitivity to photodegradation than (E-TD) resins, in the absence and presence of metal stearates. We also find that the Fe salt shows the highest oxidative activity.
ISSN:1687-9422
1687-9430