Abstract
An investigation has been conducted into the effects of photodegradation on the structure of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). Films, with and without ultraviolet absorbers and prepared by biaxial orientation after extrusion, have been exposed in the laboratory for periods of up to 1020 hours. The samples were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction and size exclusion chromatography. The appearance of a cold crystallization peak during DSC heating scans was noted for exposed samples and this was considered to be a result of released molecules in the amorphous region that could rearrange into a crystalline phase. From X-ray analysis, a loss of crystalline orientation was observed after degradation and an interpretation was given based on relaxation in the mesophase region. In samples containing the photostabilizer additive the magnitude of changes in structure was lower, possibly due to segregation effects during film production making the non-crystalline region relatively immune to degradation effects.
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