Weather-Induced Degradation of Linear Low-Density Polyethylene: Mechanical Properties

Plastics degrade through the influence of such factors as the sun's radiation, temperature, humidity, rain, the oxygen content of the air, and atmospheric pollutants. The most deleterious of these effects is radiation, which is responsible for breaking up polymer chains. The sun emits a complete spectrum of energy radiation, with waves similar in physical structure but varying in length and therefore in photon energy. Wavelength has an inverse relationship to quantum energy, as shown in Fig. 1.