ESC resistance of commercial grade polycarbonates during exposure to butter and related chemicals

Search Swinburne Research Bank

Home

List of Titles

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/198519

Check Swinburne's subscriptions for full text availability

Title: ESC resistance of commercial grade polycarbonates during exposure to butter and related chemicals
Author(s): Kjellander, Carina K.; Nielsen, Tenna B.; Ghanbari-Siahkali, Afshin; Kingshott, Peter; Hansen, Charles M.; Almdal, Kristoffer
Abstract: Three commercial grades of polycarbonates (Lexan® 144, Lexan® 104 and Makrolon Rx1805) were studied with respect to resistance to environmental stress cracking (ESC) when exposed to butter and related chemicals. The polycarbonates (PCs) were extensively characterised to determine whether differences in ESC resistance could be related to their structural or chemical properties. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry revealed that Makrolon Rx1805 contains a low molar mass material characterised as poly(propylene glycol)p, which was confirmed by ATR-FTIR and 1H NMR. Some "non-absorbing" chemicals, such as butter, cause the PCs to be less resistant to ESC under stress. The reason for this is that these chemicals and the PCs have sufficiently similar Hansen solubility parameters to allow surface conformational changes even though absorption is non-existent or extremely small. ATR-FTIR was used to detect changes in molecular structure in the PC surfaces.
Publication type: Journal article
Source: Polymer Degradation and Stability, Vol. 93, no. 8 (Aug 2008), pp. 1486-1495
Publication year: 2008
FOR Code(s): 0303 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry; 0904 Chemical Engineering
Keyword(s): Carbonates; Commercial grades; ESC; Food processing; FTIR; Hansen solubility parameters; Health; Lipid resistant; MALDI-TOF; Polycarbonates; Thermoplastics
Publisher: Elsevier
ISSN: 0141-3910
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2008.05.011
Peer reviewed