Unexpected Susceptibility of Poly(ethylene furanoate) to UV Irradiation: A Warning Light for Furandicarboxylic Acid?

ABSTRACT: Poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF) is widely advocated as a renewable alternative to the fossil-based polyester poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). Whereas the UV stability of PET is well-studied, little is known for PEF. Here, we compare the UV stability of both polyesters after 500 h of UV irradiation in a Q-SUN xenon arc chamber. Both the virgin and irradiated polyesters were characterized by FTIR, SEC, DSC, NMR, TGA, and MALDI-TOF MS. PET showed only minor signs of degradation under the applied test conditions, while PEF showed significant discoloration as well as evidence of both cross linking/chain extension and chain scission. Also, the thermal properties and the ability to crystallize of PEF were severely impacted by UV irradiation. Although a detailed study on the degradation mechanis

SUBMITTER: Maaskant E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8697558 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature