The Photo-Oxidation of Polypropylene Monofilaments

The elongation-at-break of highly-oriented polypropylene monofilaments is much less affected by photo-oxidation build-up than undrawn or partially-oriented filaments. This appears to result from the very poor lateral cohesion of the fibril bundles in the highly-oriented filament, limiting restructuring and cracking to a thin surface layer. For less-oriented samples photo-oxidation-induced restructuring of the surface layer results in deep cracks that can propagate under stress, greatly embrittling the sample. Areas of filaments cold drawn by, for example, bending or stretching deteriorate very rapidly on uv irradiation as a result of strain-induced chromophore formation, and fracture occurs first at these points. Oxidation-product levels (either hydroperoxide or carbonyl) are shown to be an unreliable index of the extent of deterioration of mechanical properties resulting from uv exposure.