Outdoor and accelerated weathering tests for polypropylene and polypropylene/talc composites: A comparative study of their weathering behavior

Study of the Effect of Weathering in Natural Environment on Polypropylene and Its Composites: Morphological and Mechanical Properties

“…Polypropylene is widely applicable polymer material because of having many kinds of advantage such as easy processability and low production cost (Azuma et al 2009). The composite with mineral has been considered a useful way to improve some properties.…”

“…Most automotives parts would be exposed to natural weathering like heat, humidity, rain, sunshine and atmospheric pollutants such as sand, dust and hydrocarbons, all of this weather factors can be responsible for severe damage. Weatherability is one of important properties for industrial materials (Azuma et al 2009). Although the wavelength of the sunshine at the earth's surface is over 290nm, the sunshine is enough to initial the degradation (Al-Madfa et al 1998).…”

“…In other study of Azuma et al 2009, the comparisons of degradation behavior of polypropylene(PP) and PP/talc composites were carried out with one outdoor weathering test at Hidaka, Saitama, Japan and three accelerated weathering (xenon, metal halide and carbon arc lamps) tests, respectively. The outdoor exposure vigorously advanced these degradations with the lowest amount of UV exposure energy.…”

Weatherability of Polypropylene by Accelerated Weathering Tests and Outdoor Exposure Tests in Japan

“…Several light sources are available, including xenon arc lamps [4][5][6], open-flame carbon arc lamps (i.e., sunshine carbon arc lamp type) [7], ultraviolet carbon arc lamp type [8], ultraviolet fluorescent lamp type [9], and metal halide lamp type [10]. Furthermore, specifications have been stipulated concerning the test machines or test methods for all of these types of light sources other than metal halide lamps.…”

Degradation of polypropylene in naturally and artificially weathered plastic matrix composites

“…Unfortunately, extensive studies concerning the effects of weathering on the properties (molecular weight distribution (MWD) and crystallinity) of PP matrix extracted from the weathered WPC are not readily available. Even though PP was the first synthetic polymer to achieve industrial importance and widely applied because of its low production cost, easy processability and excellent mechanical properties (Azuma et al 2009), its behaviour during weathering of WPC has not been reported. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the behavior of plastic matrix in WPC during weathering is very important for assessing service life.…”