The main uses and principles of action of antioxidants

The performance of polymer materials often deteriorates during processing, use and storage. Such as plastic turning yellow, brittle, and cracking. Rubber becomes sticky, hard, cracks, and has reduced insulation properties… All these phenomena are called “deterioration of polymer materials”, or “aging”. For polymer materials, it is very important to prevent or delay aging and maintain the original excellent properties to stabilize the quality of the product. This is called “Stabilization of Polymer Materials 2. In order to stabilize polymer materials, antioxidants are commonly used to improve the stability of high molecular materials, and the causes of aging must be understood.

There are many reasons for aging, but they are nothing more than internal factors and external factors. The internal factors come from the polymer material itself, such as the molecular structure of the polymer and other components. Certain “weaknesses” in points, etc. External factors include sunlight exposure in the atmospheric environment, the effects of oxygen, ozone and water, the effects of climate change, microbial erosion, as well as the effects of heat during processing and mechanical stress during use, especially the effects of oxygen, light and heat. The impact is most significant.

Polymer compounds often undergo cleavage and cross-linking reactions when they are cooked, illuminated and oxidized, thereby destroying the original structure of the polymer and causing aging. Therefore, it is necessary to Try to prevent degradation and cross-linking reactions of polymer materials under the above circumstances. For this reason, adding appropriate high-temperature antioxidants to polymer materials can inhibit or delay the aging process and greatly increase the service life of polymer materials. The additives mainly used to prevent oxidative aging of polymer materials are called “antioxidants”; the additives mainly used to prevent thermal aging are called “thermal stabilizers”, and the additives mainly used to prevent photoaging are called “light stabilizers”. We collectively call the agent gas “stabilizing agent” or “anti-aging agent”.