TY - CONF A1 - Erdmann, Maren A1 - Niebergall, Ute A1 - Toepel, Jörg A1 - Böhning, Martin T1 - Diesel and biodiesel induced degradation of polyethylene N2 - Renewable resources become more and more relevant to maintain energy demands for an increasing global population. Biosynthetic fuels like biodiesel might replace conventional petrochemical fuels, such as diesel. However, more research is needed to characterize the interaction between the different fuels and the polymeric material, especially with respect to ageing and degradation. The poster will present several interaction and degradation phenomena of high density polyethylene (PE-HD) induced by diesel and biodiesel 1-3. Also the possible influence of microbial growth (fungi and bacteria) is considered. The chosen PE-HDs are typical thermoplastic resins for container and storage tank applications. Degradation of PE-HD will be investigated by changes of the mechanical properties – with main emphasis on the Charpy impact strength 2. Furthermore, with alternating sorption and desorption cycles in combination with oven ageing the co-oxidation 3 of PE-HD in contact with biodiesel will be addressed. T2 - MoDeSt 2016 CY - Cracow, Poland DA - 04.09.2016 KW - Impact strength KW - PE-HD KW - Diesel KW - Biodiesel KW - Degradation PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-37320 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Erdmann, Maren A1 - Niebergall, Ute A1 - Böhning, Martin T1 - Mechanical characterization of high-density polyethylene in contact with diesel and biodiesel fuels N2 - Renewable resources become more and more relevant to maintain energy demands for an increasing global population. Biosynthetic fuels like biodiesel might replace conventional petrochemical fuels, such as diesel. However, more research is needed to characterize the interaction between the different fuels and polymeric materials widely used in the fuel infrastructure as well as for automotive parts. Especially changes in the structural properties and mechanical behavior of the polyethylene (PE-HD) have to be addressed. The presented work comprises the direct interaction of high density polyethylene (PE-HD) with diesel and biodiesel, resulting in swelling and plasticization. Also long-term degradation phenomena will be discussed. The chosen PE-HD types are typical thermoplastic resins for container and storage tank applications. The impact of diesel and biodiesel in PE-HD is investigated by changes in the mechanical properties with emphasis on the Charpy impact strength. Furthermore, structural and dynamic influences on the polymeric material induced by diesel and biodiesel are proven in Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA). Both methods, Charpy impact strength and DMA, reveal softening effects due to the migration of diesel and biodiesel into the amorphous regions of PE-HD. Since biodiesel is more prone to oxidative degradation compared to diesel, the fuel/air/polymer-interaction is studied for partly immersed tensile test specimens. Main focus of the evaluation is the co-oxidation. Here, the accelerated deterioration of PE caused by the sorption of the facile oxidation of biodiesel into the solid polymer might be a major degradation mechanism in this context. T2 - POLYDAYS 2016 CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 28.09.2016 KW - PE-HD KW - Diesel KW - Biodiesel KW - Oxidation PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-37677 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schilling, Markus A1 - Niebergall, Ute A1 - Böhning, Martin A1 - Alig, I. A1 - Oehler, H. T1 - Degradation of PE-HD induced by liquid media - FNCT testing N2 - The Full-Notch Creep Test (FNCT) is widely used to characterize the slow crack growth (SCG) behavior of polyolefin materials in “inert” media as well as effects of environmental stress cracking (ESC) in which the medium has decisive influence on damage mechanism and time to failure tf*. Usually the FNCT is applied as a standardized testing method (ISO 16770) using a few universal liquid media, such as solutions of Arkopal N 100 (detergent). Selected relevant PE-HD materials are investigated also in real media and influences of temperature and geometry of specimen and notch are explicitly addressed. The investigations comprise also the ESC behavior of PE-HD in media that are sorbed to a significant extent – such as Diesel and Biodiesel – based on comparison with samples previously saturated with those media. T2 - PolyDays 2016 CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 28.09.2016 KW - Sorption KW - Environmental stress cracking KW - Slow crack growth KW - PE-HD KW - FNCT PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-37716 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schilling, Markus A1 - Niebergall, Ute A1 - Böhning, Martin T1 - Failure of PE-HD induced by liquid media (ESC) N2 - As the well-known damage mechanisms slow crack growth (SCG) and environmental stress cracking (ESC) are the major causes for possible failure of polyolefin-based materials, especially for PE-HD, they are highly relevant and need to be considered thoroughly. Furthermore, due to slight but perceptible differences in damaging effect, a differentiation between SCG and ESC is expedient. SCG appears in “inert” or “neutral” media without a decisive influence of the surrounding medium whereas ESC occurs in “active” media, which influence the failure behavior and time to failure crucially. To characterize the inherent resistance of the material against those damage mechanisms, the well-established Full-Notch Creep Test (FNCT) is used. In this study, the FNCT – usually applied according to ISO 16770 [3] using a few universal model liquid media and mainly for pipe materials – is extended by investigations with appropriate parameters of selected relevant PE-HD container materials also in real media, such as the topical fuels diesel and biodiesel. The investigations were performed using a novel FNCT-device with 12 individual sub-stations, each equipped with individual electronic stress and temperature control and continuous online monitoring of the specimen elongation. Especially, mechanical stress and temperature were varied systematically during FNCT and time to failure values, time-dependent elongation data as well as detailed fracture surface analysis by laser scanning microscopy (LSM) were combined for the first time (Fig. 1). Particularly, the fracture surface analysis provides a sound basis to characterize failure behavior, mainly regarding the balance between brittle crack propagation and ductile deformation. Therefore, fracture surface analysis is an essential tool for a decent assessment of SCG and ESC by FNCT measurements. T2 - 17th International Conference on Deformation, Yield and Fracture of Polymers (DYFP) CY - Kerkrade, The Netherlands DA - 25.03.2018 KW - Environmental stress cracking (ESC) KW - PE-HD KW - Full Notch Creep Test (FNCT) KW - Imaging techniques KW - Brittle / ductile fracture behavior KW - Crack propagation analysis PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-44617 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Erdmann, Maren A1 - Niebergall, Ute A1 - Böhning, Martin A1 - Sameith, Janin T1 - Effect of surface degradation on high-density polyethylene for biofilm formation N2 - Renewable resources become more and more relevant to maintain energy demands for an increasing global population. Biosynthetic fuels like biodiesel might replace conventional petrochemical fuels. In this study the influence of microbial growth on biodiesel and diesel on the storage tank systems were investigated. Polymeric fuel storage tanks for diesel and biodiesel provide suitable environmental conditions for a broad spectrum of fungi and various bacteria, including cyanobacteria and aerobic heterotrophic, and even anaerobic, fermentative Bacteria. However, the questions whether and how ageing of the materials is affected by biofouling processes have not been answered so far. Therefore, a model system for biofilm formation was established to study the initial attachment phase of bacteria in dependency of ageing, quality and surface modification of thermoplastic polymers used for storage tank systems. The microbial survey is closely connected with a detailed characterization of the material’s properties and its ageing processes. A widely applied plastic used for fuel storage tanks is high-density polyethylene (PE-HD), which is available with various additives to increase UV-light stability and even for the storage of biodiesel. These materials were aged under UV-light and temperature using a defined climate chamber set-up. Further, the repeated filling of fuels was mimicked for such storage tanks, as this has an important impact on the life-cycle length for the storage Container. The aged polymers showed a significant change in the material’s characteristics, including surface characteristics (e.g. hydrophobicity) and carbonyl groups. The effect of the changed material properties on the biofilm formation are studied using bacterial isolates, previously obtained from a “dieselpest”, and as a model-reference E. coli. The unaged polymers showed already some significant differences for the initial attachment of E. coli K12. Polyethylene with additives was colonized faster than the reference material (without additives) although the final biofilm coverage was not impaired. Likewise, the settlement of a kerosene-isolated Bacillus species on the unaged materials independently of additives was only minor interfered. In future, our results should give stakeholders in industry and public authorities a better estimation of the life-cycle security for fuel storage tank systems and on the fuel quality. Further, our results could help to test and develop new materials or additives to prevent biofouling processes. T2 - VAAM Jahrestagung CY - Würzburg, Germany DA - 05.03.2017 KW - PE-HD KW - Biofilm KW - MIC KW - Degradation PY - 2017 AN - OPUS4-39457 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Erdmann, Maren A1 - Wachtendorf, Volker A1 - Sameith, Janin A1 - Niebergall, Ute A1 - Böhning, Martin T1 - Effect of surface degradation on high-density polyethylene for initial attachment of bacillus and pseudomonas N2 - High-density polyethylene (PE-HD) is a widely applied plastic for fuel storage tank applications. But such tanks, filled with diesel or biodiesel, provide excellent environmental conditions for growth of a broad spectrum of fungi and various bacteria1. This can result in fuel contamination, engine plugging or possible (bio-) degradation2. Our research focusses on the initial attachment phase of Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from a „dieselpest“2 on two distinctly PE-HD materials, typical for fuel storage tank applications, pre-damaged thermally and by UV-irradiation. T2 - PDDG CY - Taormina, Sicily, Italy DA - 04.09.2017 KW - PE-HD KW - UV-irradiation KW - Initial attachment KW - Bacteria PY - 2017 AN - OPUS4-41908 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Erdmann, Maren A1 - Niebergall, Ute A1 - Böhning, Martin T1 - Long-term storage of high-density polyethylene in biodiesel and diesel fuels N2 - Sustainable energy and clean engine fuels receive more and more attention. Petrodiesel could be substituted by biofuels such as biodiesel produced from renewable resources. Biodiesel is derived by transesterification of oils with alcohols for example vegetable oils, animal fats or food waste. Its chemical composition of unsaturated fatty methyl acids causes biodiesels susceptibility to oxidation. Especially, the polymer-biodiesel performance under long-term conditions has been considered only in few researches. Our study addresses a long-term storage scenario of a polymeric fuel tank containing biodiesel or diesel. T2 - PDDG CY - Taormina, Sicily, Italy DA - 04.09.2017 KW - PE-HD KW - Degradation KW - Biodiesel KW - Diesel PY - 2017 AN - OPUS4-41909 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -