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- Bacterial attachment (1)
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In the present study, a simple approach was used to investigate the effect of UV-exposure on two high density Polyethylene materials (PE-HD), commonly used for storage tanks, on fuel sorption behavior and colonization by microorganisms. The aim was to investigate whether the sorption behavior of the fuels (diesel/biodiesel) and the colonization by microorganisms, frequently occurring in the fuel, is affected and may lead to undesirable or safety-relevant material changes. We showed that the UV-irradiation leads to significant changes of the sorption behavior due to chemi-crystallization and crosslinking. The fuel Sorption is affected by the UV-induced formation of polar carbonyl and hydroxyl groups predominantly occurring at the surface. With respect to microbial colonization behavior for Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, isolated from a contaminated diesel sample, differences of the initial adhesion could be shown depending on the initial type of polyethylene as well as on the degree of UV-induced degradation.
The impact fracture behavior of two common high-density polyethylene grades for container applications were intensively studied by the instrumented Charpy impact test after well-defined exposure to UV-irradiation. Individual stages of the impact event, such as crack initiation and crack propagation energy as well as maximum impact load, were investigated from the recorded load–deflection curves. UV-induced material property changes were further investigated by infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and dynamic-mechanical analysis as well as density measurements. Based on the results of the Charpy impact test, three indicators were identified to describe the extend of photooxidation on high-density polyethylene: (a) a reduced Charpy impact strength—at least to half of its initial value for a distinctly brittle impact fracture, (b) a marked decrease in the crack propagation contribution to the impact strength, and (c) an increase of the brittle features of the fracture surface.
In previous papers, we investigated the influence of biodiesel or diesel on mechanical properties of a high-density polyethylene (PE-HD) for tank applications using Charpy impact tests and dynamicmechanical analysis (DMA). In this work, covering two more PE-HD materials, we extend our study to addressing the tensile properties, especially changes of Young's modulus, after immersion in biodiesel or diesel at 60 °C. As we cover sorption and desorption behavior, during desorption, i.e. storage at 60 °C in a circulating air oven, ageing or degradation phenomena were also observed and characterized in some detail using spectral reflectance measurements and FT-IR spectroscopy. The results obtained here support the concept of co-oxidation, i.e. the faster oxidation of the PE-HD matrix if the samples were previously saturated with biodiesel, itself easily oxidizable.