Accelerated Evaluation of Wetherability of Polyolefin Films

Abstract

Accelerating abilities of some types of accelerated weathering apparatuses for polyethylene and polypropylene films were examined. Regardless of the polymer materials and the apparatuses, the irradiation time dependence of the elongation-at-break, which was used as a parameter of degradation, was represented by the form y = exp (-Ktⁿ) where y is the retention of the elongation-at-break, t the irradiation time, n a constant arround 2, and K a constant characterizing the accelerating ability. The valid correlation between the apparatus with high energy light and the outdoor exprosure was observed, and this apparatus exhibited very high accelerating ability.