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Study of aging and microplastic behaviour after accelerated thermodegradation
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This Croatian thesis simulated atmospheric thermal aging of plastic materials to study microplastic formation and characterized the resulting particles. The study examined how thermal degradation alters the physical and chemical properties of common plastic polymers.
U ovom radu simuliran je proces atmosferskog toplinskog starenja polimernog materijala u sušioniku (procesa koji se odvija u okolišu nakon odlaganja plastičnog otpada) kojim nastaje mikroplastika, te je provedena karakterizacija uzoraka nakon simuliranog procesa starenja. U tu svrhu korišteni su komercijalni polimerni materijali: poli(etilen tereftalat) (PET) boce za vodu i PET folije. Starenje je provedeno u nekoliko vremenskih perioda; 14 dana, 28 dana i 42 dana, a svaki dan predstavljao je jedan ciklus starenja. Jednodnevni ciklus sastojao se od: 16h starenja pri temperaturi od 70 °C, 4 h pri temperaturi od 70 °C u prisutstvu povećane vlage i 2h u zamrzivaču na -18 °C. U svrhu praćenja procesa degradacije, određivanja toplinske stabilnosti i sadržaja adsorbirane vlage, ispitivanja mehaničkih svojstava, te analiziranja morfologije i površinskih svojstava starenih uzoraka, provedeni je karakterizacija: infracrvenom spektroskopijom (FTIR), termogravimetrijski (TGA), testom naprezanje-istezanje, pretražnim elektronskim mikroskopom (SEM) te mjerenjem kontaktnog kuta. Rezultati svih navedenih metoda su dokazali promjenu svojstava, strukture i kemijskog sastava molekula PET polimera s vremenom toplinskog starenja, ali u manjoj mjeri. Time je potvrđeno da je proces degradacije PET polimera u okolišu dugotrajan proces.
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