Artificial Simulated and Natural Weathering of Poly(vinyl Chloride) for outdoor applications: the evolution of the mechanical and molecular properties

Abstract

The low cost and the good performance of poly(vinyl chloride) products make this polymer very suitable for applications in buildings, mainly in exterior applications, like window profiles, cladding structures and siding. However, the ultimate user acceptance of PVC products for outdoor building applications will depend on their ability to resist the deterioration of their mechanical and aesthetic properties over long periods of exposure. In order to assure the weatherability of these materials, the PVC resin needs to be compounded and processed properly, using suitable additives, leading to a complex material, whose behaviour and properties are quite different from the PVC resin by itself. The outdoor degradation of such products is complex and not completely understood for most of the technical formulations, so the study of the photodegradation of such products still remains a matter of interest. In the present work, we have used various analytical techniques to evaluate the variations of the physical,chemical and mechanical properties of extruded PVC samples, resulting from the degradation by light.