Hydrothermal Ageing of Metallocene Polyethylene Films in Presence of Grafted Amine Stabilizers

• Published in: Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 69 - 80
• Main Authors: Setnescu, Radu, Kaci, Mustapha, Dehouche, Nadjet, Setnescu, Tanţa, Nasri, Lounis, Zaharescu, Traian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Degradation; Density; Distilled water; Engineering; Grafting; Humanities and Social Sciences; Metallocenes; multidisciplinary; Polyethylenes; Research Article - Chemistry; Science; Spectra; Stability; Stabilization; Hydrothermal ageing; FT-IR; Metallocene LLDPE; Chemiluminescence; DSC
• ISSN: 1319-8025; 2191-4281
• DOI: 10.1007/s13369-014-1478-8

The hydrothermal degradation at 90°C in distilled water of metallocene linear low density polyethylene films (mLLDPE) has been studied using low density polyethylene (LDPE) for comparison. FTIR spectroscopy, DSC and chemiluminescence techniques were used for investigation of the hydrothermal ageing-induced changes. The stabilization effect of a commercially available HALS, namely Sanduvor PR 31, able to graft on polyolefin structures has been also studied, as well. It was found that intense oxidation process occurs in the case of LDPE: hydroxyl, carbonyl and unsaturated groups were identified in FTIR spectra. mLLDPE reference films presented considerably higher stability as compared to LDPE ones, this behaviour being assigned to the structural peculiarities. Sanduvor PR 31 induced higher stability in LDPE, possibly by grafting mechanism, but it did not present a significant effect in the case of mLLDPE. Besides a possible antagonist interaction with the process stabilizer or a graft-hindering effect of the alkyl side groups, the intrinsic higher stability of the mLLDPE which offers less active sites for grafting could be supposed to explain this lower effectiveness.