TY - JOUR A1 - Scholz, Philipp A1 - Falkenhagen, Jana A1 - Wachtendorf, Volker A1 - Brüll, Robert A1 - Simon, Franz-Georg T1 - Investigation on the Durability of a Polypropylene Geotextile under Artificial Aging Scenarios JF - Sustainability N2 - Geosynthetics are widely used in various civil engineering applications, such as geotextiles in coastal protection, and display a sustainable alternative to natural mineral materials. However, the full benefits of using geosynthetics can only be gained with a long service lifetime of the products. With the use of added stabilizers to the polymers, service lifetimes can be achieved in the range of 100 years. Therefore, accelerated aging methods are needed for the assessment of the long-term performance of geotextiles. In the present study, the behavior of geosynthetic materials made of polypropylene was investigated under artificial aging conditions involving elevated temperatures ranging from 30 to 80 °C, increased oxygen pressures ranging from 10 to 50 bar in water-filled autoclaves, and UV irradiation under atmospheric conditions. ATR-IR spectroscopy was employed to detect the increase in the carbonyl index over various aging durations, indicating the oxidative degradation of the geotextile. The most pronounced increase was observed in the case of aging through UV irradiation, followed by thermal aging. Elevated pressure, on the other hand, had a lower impact on oxidation. High-temperature size exclusion chromatography was utilized to follow the reduction in molar mass under different degradation conditions, and the results were consistent with those obtained from ATR-IR spectroscopy. In polyolefins such as polypropylene, Hindered Amine Stabilizers (HAS) are used to suppress oxidation caused by UV radiation. The quantitative analysis of HAS was carried out using a UV/Vis method and HPLC. The degradation of UV stabilizers during the aging of geotextiles is responsible for the oxidation and the reduction in the molar mass of polypropylene. From the results, it can be concluded that applications of PP geotextile without soil or sand cover might cause the risk of the formation of microplastic particles. Material selection, design, and maintenance of the construction must follow best practices, including the system’s removal or replacement at end-of-life. Otherwise, a sustainable use of geotextiles in civil engineering is not possible. KW - Geotextiles KW - Microplastic KW - Size exclusion chromatography KW - Accelerated aging PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-599739 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/su16093559 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 16 IS - 9 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - MDPI AG CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-59973 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Esiukova, Elena A1 - Chubarenko, Boris A1 - Simon, Franz-Georg T1 - Debris of geosynthetic materials on the shore of South-Eastern Baltic (Kaliningrad Oblast, Russian Federation) T2 - 2018 IEEE/OES Baltic International Symposium (BALTIC) N2 - Geosynthetics are widely used in hydraulic engineering and within coastal protection constructions at the Baltic Sea shore, such as walls, promenades, and gabions walls. Storms influence leads to deformation of some of the protection structures and cause the release of geotextiles onto the beach. Fragments of geotextile migrate along the shore, experiencing additional degradation and destruction down to macro-, meso-, and micro-particles. During October 2017 - March 2018, the Baltic Sea shore along the Sambia Peninsula (Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation) was monitored to establish the contamination of sandy beaches by geotextiles that had degraded. Several local sources of pollution of beaches by geosynthetic materials were established. T2 - 7th IEEE/OES Baltic Symposium "Clean and Safe Baltic Sea and Energy Security for the Baltic countries" CY - Klaipeda, Lithuania DA - 12.06.2018 KW - Baltic Sea KW - Geotextiles KW - Geosynthetics KW - Degradation KW - Coastal protection PY - 2018 SN - 978-1-5386-4467-6 DO - https://doi.org/10.1109/BALTIC.2018.8634842 SN - 2150-6035 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - IEEE Xplore Digital Library CY - New York AN - OPUS4-47760 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -