Abstract
The potential contribution of primary oxidation products to γ-lactone formation in polyethylene is discussed. The 1,4,6-hydroperoxy-keto-hydroperoxides and the 1,2,5-tris-hydroperoxides are investigated in this work. Their formation and decomposition is examined with respect to γ-lactone formation at increasing rates in the initial stages and possibly at constant rates in the advanced stages of polyethylene processing. The formal kinetics based on the mechanisms is used to check the effect of the temperature and of the oxygen concentration. It is found that the activation energy calculated for the two mechanisms envisaged can account for different experimental values valid in the initial or advanced stages of polyethylene processing. However, the calculated increase of the rate on passing from air to pure oxygen is always much larger than the experimental value. Hence, the mechanisms examined can contribute to part only of the γ-lactone found experimentally. They should necessarily be complemented by additional mechanisms that show smaller increase with the oxygen concentration than that found experimentally.
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