Effect of ultraviolet light on the degradation of Low-Density and High-Density Polyethylene characterized by the weight loss and FTIR

Abstract

In this study, the research was made to understand the knowledge widely related to the degradation process of polyethylene polymer. The mode of treatment that involves in the degradation process of polyethylene is physical treatment while the method of degradation used is photo-degradation of UV light. By using the physical treatment of UV irradiation light, it helps by affecting the bonding that holds the polymer together to break and weakens the plastic. From the result obtained in FTIR and SEM analysis, in FTIR spectrum of LDPE shows higher transmittance compared to FTIR spectrum of HDPE both UV-treated for 30 days. This indicates the high transmittance have few bonds to absorb light in the LDPE sample, low transmittance in HDPE sample means has high population of bonds which have vibrational energies corresponding to the incident light. For SEM result, the polyethylene for LDPE plastic sheet shows the best results for degradation and managed to reduce the weight loss at 87.5% compared to HDPE plastic which at 21.6%.