Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Biodegradable polymers are susceptible to environmental degradation, particularly when exposed to factors such as moisture, temperature, light, and microorganisms. To mitigate these aging and degradation processes, the incorporation of anti-aging substances is crucial. While the polymer industry has traditionally relied on synthetic stabilizers, there is a growing interest in naturally occurring compounds as environmentally friendly alternatives. Hemp extract, the focus of this study, is a promising natural stabilizer mixture that is readily available. Hemp-derived stabilizers represent a relatively new area of research on polymeric materials, with limited studies evaluating the impact of hemp extract on degradation processes. This study investigated the effects of weathering and thermo-oxidative aging on PLA matrices containing hemp extract using infrared spectroscopy, spectrophotometry, static mechanical testing, and surface free energy analysis. These findings demonstrate that hemp extract effectively inhibits thermo-oxidative aging but has a catalytic effect on atmospheric aging. This difference can be attributed to distinct oxidation and reduction reactions under varying conditions, resulting in different decomposition products. Further research in this area is warranted due to the increasing interest in hemp and its derivatives as functional materials and substances, as well as the growing amount of waste materials generated during their production.
Tutek et al. (Wed,) studied this question.