Investigation of pro-oxidant agents’ effects on the ageing of polypropylene bags

ABSTRACT

In this work, the effects of calcium, aluminium and zinc stearates as pro-oxidant agents on the degradation of polypropylene (PP) bags were studied under natural weathering of Mediterranean climate. Samples were taken off periodically and characterised. Tensile properties, structural modifications, morphological and thermal properties were investigated. All the considered properties were affected by the presence of the three pro-oxidant agents. The pro-oxidants can be classified as follows: Zinc stearate > Calcium stearate>Aluminium stearate.