Abstract
Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable, eco-friendly plastic that is attracting more attention than any other plastic of its kind. In this study, the authors examined the effects of ultraviolet light on the mechanical and electrical characteristics of PLA in order to clarify the prospects of using PLA as an electrical insulator material. An examination of the tensile stress curves versus the elongation showed that the stress and elongation of PLA decreased with an increase in the time length of the UV irradiation and that this decrease in the elongation was significant. The authors found that the dielectric breakdown strength (EB) is temperature dependent; that is, with an increase in the time length of the UV irradiation, the EB of PLA had a tendency to decrease over a wide temperature range.
