Effect of the environment on the durability of plastic-based materials

Plastics in use are exposed to diverse environments, some of which exert a detrimental effect, resulting in overall deterioration. Studies carried out at the Division of Building Research, National Research Council Canada, on the effect of natural and artificial environments for several plastic materials have established the types of change in their properties and the mechanisms involved. Detrimental changes resulting from environmentallyinduced deterioration include chemical degradation, discoloration, surface cracking, crazing, loss of compounding ingredients (e.g., exudation, leaching), fibre release (in glass-reinforced plastic), impairment of mechanical and electrical properties, loss of gloss, reduction of light transmission, opacification and pitting and scratching.