TY - CONF A1 - Hennersdorf, Felix A1 - Weltschev, Margit A1 - Hertwig, Andreas T1 - ATR Investigations into the effect of ageing on HD-PE heating oil storage tanks after a service life of more than 30 years N2 - Heating oil storage tanks made of polyethylene grades have been on the market in Germany since the early 1970s. To ensure safety, their replacement is recommended by tank manufacturers after a period of 30 years. Polyethylene is subject to ageing by alteration of the properties during its life cycle. The degree of degradation and the nature of the process mainly depend on the chemical alteration of the polyethylene, the wall thickness of the tank and the environmental conditions. There are no data available on the long-term behaviour of the polyethylene grades, especially after a service life of more than 30 years. The aim of this investigation was to find a suitable test method to determine the factual degree of damage in comparison to the uncontaminated polyethylene grades. Material data of the used polyethylene grades are available because the BAM was the competent authority for the tests and expert reports for the approval of these tanks until the middle of the 1990s. Therefore, tank sections from the bottom, the shell and the roof of 22 individual storage tanks produced of polyethylene grades A and B have been examined by Melt Flow Rate (MFR) and Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR). Their service life was in the range between 20 and 41 years. The MFR measurements of the tank sections showed differences in the values depending on the weight which was used (5 kg or 21.6 kg). An increase of the MFR was determined for the samples of polyethylene grade A, whereas a reduction of the MFR values was measured for most samples of polyethylene grade B. This grade is mainly subject to the internal ageing by cross-linkages, increased degree of branched molecules and loss of the plasticizer. ATR analysis exhibits an absorption band at 909 cm‒1 predominantly in samples of polyethylene grade A indicating chain scission and concomitantly formed terminal vinyl groups. This absorption band can be used for the characterization of the ageing of the polyethylene grades. T2 - EUROCORR 2019 CY - Sevilla, Spain DA - 09.09.2019 KW - Heating oil tanks KW - Polyethylene KW - Ageing KW - Service life PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-49000 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Beckmann, Jörg A1 - Bär, Sylke A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Wolff, Dietmar A1 - Puskar, L. A1 - Schade, U. T1 - Photolytically and Thermally Initiated Destruction N2 - Casks for storage and transportation of used fuel rods of radioactive material are equipped with polyethylene (PE) for improved neutron flux shielding. The embedded PE structures are additionally exposed to gamma radiation and heat flow due to the specific high activity of the fission products. 60Co γ-radiation and heat load experiments at 125°C has been performed to evaluate PE degradation during the ageing process. FAR-FTIR-experiments were subsequently performed at differently aged PE test samples to characterize the oxidation process and morphological changes in the samples during the ageing at 125°C. T2 - 11'th Joint BER II and BESSY II User Meeting CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 04.12.2019 KW - FTIR KW - High Molecular Polyethylene KW - Ageing PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-49988 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Geburtig, Anja T1 - Possibilities on prediction of plastic’s fragmentation time - Digital twins for decomposing-time predictions N2 - Depending on the specific plastic’s ageing sensitivities, the durations which plastic components remain in the environment can be very long. As, in the past, the advantages in ageing resistance and durability were highly evaluated, we now face the problem of quite stable plastic waste within the environment. However, there is only little knowledge on the real timescales until macroscopic fragmentation for the different kinds of plastic under various environmental conditions. Here, weathering methods are presented, which have been used for the failure prediction in specific outdoor conditions. Issues of uncertainty, reproducibility, or validation are discussed. For the prediction of the plastic’s fragmentation, much longer time scales have to be considered. To do this within a limited project life span, various processes as well as their acceleration potential have to be evaluated separately, such as temperature increase or spectral shift. The possibilities and limitations of such controlled acceleration will be discussed. T2 - 29th IAPRI Symposium on Packaging CY - Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands DA - 11.06.2019 KW - Plastic KW - Ageing KW - Environment KW - Fragmentation KW - Digital twin PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-49714 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -