Natural weathering vs. accelerated UV radiation on mechanical properties in poly(1-butene)

Abstract

The work directs attention towards the influence of natural weathering and accelerated UV degradation on resulting macroscopic properties in isotactic poly(1-butene) (PB-1). For this purpose, commercial-available PB-1 was extruded as tape. Two sets of prepared specimens were UV irradiated up to 300 hours and naturally weathered up to 103 days. Significant changes were consequently observed in evolution of mechanical properties where was observed a drop of tensile strength and elongation at break, while tensile modulus shows different trend caused by phenomenon of chemicrystallization. Evolution of chemical species in specimens was observed using infrared spectroscopy and surface changes were observed by stereomicroscopy.