Abiotic Degradation of High Density Polyethylene Films Containing Addiflex Oxo-Biodegradable Additive

Plastic waste disposal is one of the serious environmental issues being tackled by governments today.Polyethylene, particularly used as packaging films, has received criticism as it tends to accumulate in the environment over period of time, leaving behind undesirable visual footprints. In the present study abiotic degradation of high density polyethylene (HDPE) films containing various concentrations of Addiflex oxobiodegradableadditive is investigated. After preparation of samples, they were placed in the UVC chamber with 254nm irradiation wavelength. The abiotic degradation was monitored through the changes in the structural, thermal and molecular weight properties. Dilute solution viscometry analysis showed a remarkable decrease in the viscosity average molecular weights (Mv). Changes in Carbonyl Index (C.I.) of the samples monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) represented increasing trends for samples.Themgravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative thermogravimetric analysis (DTG) denoted a single stage decomposition process for all samples