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Abstract:The total Infra-red (IR) transmission of polymer films is a very important property in engineering, which determines their suitability for a specific application at a given temperature level. Aiming to investigate the percentage IR transmission of two polymer material films and glass of a particular thickness, an analysis is developed for the comparative evaluation of this very important physical property. Sand is a solid and a poor conductor of heat. That means that when sunlight hits sand, all the energy of the sunlight is absorbed in the first millimeter or so of the sand, the heat stays there or spreads only a few millimeters down. So those few millimeters get quite hot. High transmittance and absorptance of top cover and absorber plate are among the factors that contribute to the high efficiency of a SAH. Transmission and reflection spectra were obtained from the Spectro 320 Optical Spectrum Analyzer. IR Radiation (IR) was obtained from a lamp and measurements made at room temperature and relative humidity of 21°C and 25%RH respectively. The study shows that the transmittance of clear HDPE, LDPE and glass are 0.84, 0.72 and 0.72 respectively at wavelengths 791.90, 735 .02 and 820.89nm. The absorptance of sand layers was found to be 56% and 59% for grey and brown sand respectively.

Polyethylene (PE) films are widely used in packaging. PE is a thermoplastic manufactured from nonrenewable petroleum resources. Due to its non-biodegradability, its films have posed serious pollution problems e.g. visual pollution, blockage of gutters and drains, choking of animals etc. Suitable replacements for PE films especially for single use only, are the starch based thermoplastics such as Polylactic acid (PLA) which are fully biodegradable. This paper reports a comparison of the viscoelastic properties of commercially obtained PLA and PE films, and the degradation of the same under a composting environment. The storage and loss moduli of PLA and PE films were determined using the Dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) model 2980. The elastic modulus of PLA was found to be 2222.87 MPa at 50˚C and amplitude of 10 μm. This is higher than that of PE which was found to be 236.69 MPa at the same temperature and amplitude. Analysis of composting samples over a time span of 36 days indicated a rapid loss of storage modulus of PLA with that of PE remaining fairly constant. Overall, the results suggest that PLA is a suitable substitute for PE in as far as technical performance and degradability is concerned.