Chapter 5

Introduction
Plastics have a wide range of uses. There are many

products that we use in our daily life. Some of them are recycled and others are thrown out along with other waste.
Most materials undergo an undesired change in some

of their physical and chemical properties with time when exposed to unsuitable conditions.
Materials like wood, plastics, metals, etc. degrade with

time.

Degradation
The irreversible chemical change taking place in

the polymer material due to reaction with the environmental factors, resulting in the change of certain properties of the material such as color, strength etc is called degradation.

Examples of Degraded Plastics

Examples of Degradation
Degradation is common to many materials but the

speed at which degradation occurs is different and depends on the type of material and the environment.
Examples of degradation are: Decay of wood Corrosion of metals Degradation of plastics

 Decay of wood This occurs primarily due to the action of biological organisms. Corrosion of metals This occurs primarily due to the reaction with gases, like oxygen from the atmosphere, in the presence of moisture.

Degradation of Plastics
Degradation of plastics is very different from the

degradation of wood or metals.

In plastics the very long molecular chains are broken

in to shorter chains and then later they get broken to even smaller chains.
This leads to change in properties like lesser

transparency, lower strength, reduced flexibility, etc.

Degradation of Plastics
Plastics can also be broken into smaller pieces due to

chemical and mechanical action. In the process of degradation, the plastics product decreases in size and in the end becomes many small pieces reaching even up to tiny micrometer sizes.

Rate of Degradation
Though it depends on the environmental conditions

we can say that generally materials like food, wood and metals degrade faster than plastics.
Material Cotton Paper Wool Cigarette butts Plastic bags Nylon fabric Aluminum cans Time to Degrade 1-5 months 2-5 months 1 to 5 years 1 to 12 years 10 to 20 years 30 to 40 years 80 to 100 years

Glass bottles

1 million years

Factors in Degradation of plastics

Many factors play a major role in the degradation of

plastics:
Sunlight Heat Chemicals (oxygen, copper, etc.) Moisture and micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi, etc.) Mechanical Action

Chemical Process