Plastics, Acylics and PVCs UV stability

Henedce

Apprentice elf
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
69
Location
110 Wallace st
One good thing about my job is I have access to loads of information to do with any Industrial/Engineering products.
One thing I have been wondering is how can I make my display items made from clear acrylic tube UV resistant.

I came across this product today http://www.dymark.com.au/coatings/Product-details.aspx?product=1054 and on reading the TDS and saw

Dy-Mark’s PlasGuard cleans and seals the pores in plastic surfaces with a thin layer of shiny, protective wax, making the surface resistant to debris, oil, scratches and eventual yellowing.

I rang the manufacturer to ask if this gave plastics a UV resistance , yellowing = UV or so I thought. After talking to one of their tech guys he explained to me that yellowing of plastics is actually caused by microscopic particles of dirt penetrating the pores of the plastic. So it is'nt UV breakdown but plain old dirtiness that causes the discoloration or yellowing.
So not to be discouraged I rang a plastics manufacturer today and was informed that most plastics sold today are UV stabilised . What does this mean? Well UV stabilsed in Australia can be interpreted as an expected life span of 10 years in normal service without discoloring due to UV. IE a boat window made from UV stabilised acrylic will last a minimum of 10 years without discoloring due to UV. In reality you could expect at least 15 years service with the standard 1.5 service factor taken into account.

What does this mean to us ?
15 Years times 12 months = 180 months . Allowing for setup times and pull down times our display items will be in the weather for 2 months . So theoretically a display item made from clear UV stabilised acrylic will last 90 years.

Another thing I discussed with them today was "what if I have an older non UV stabilised product" Do you know of anything that would make it UV stable?
His answer "Try your local Chemist or Supermarket"
10 Points to the first that can guess what he meant.
 
It's just as well that we get all our blinky flashy stuff made in Australia. Interesting info about the yellowing. That's something I'd never heard or even thought of.
 
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