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WEATHERABILITY OF ENHANCED DEGRADABLE PLASTICS
Citation:
Andrady, A. WEATHERABILITY OF ENHANCED DEGRADABLE PLASTICS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-93/162.
Description:
The main objective of this study was to assess the performance and the associated variability of several selected enhanced degradable plastic materials under a variety of different exposure conditions. ther objectives were to identify the major products formed during degradation and to assess the preliminary toxicity of such products, and to determine the effects of enhanced degradable plastic material on the quality of recycled products. everal commercially available materials, including both photodegradable and biodeteriorable plastics were chosen for inclusion in this study. xposure scenarios consisted of outdoor direct exposure, soil burial, and marine and freshwater exposure. aboratory exposure scenarios consisted of accelerated weathering by Xenon Arc Weather-Ometer and lab accelerated soil burial. esults of this study showed the elongation at break and the energy to break to be the test parameters most sensitive to weathering-induced changes.