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Damage of PE-HD induced by liquid media - Full Notch Creep Testing (FNCT) and Imaging analysis
(2017)
Due to the increasing demand for utilization and improvement of energy efficient materials, especially concerning requirements in lightweight construction and design, polyolefin materials are used extensively and in an increasingly broad range of applications.
Although loaded with stresses under yield stress, preformed voids, inhomogeneities or notches can possibly lead to damage and unexpected failure induced by liquid media in polyolefin materials. For PE-HD, slow crack growth (SCG) as well as environmental stress cracking (ESC) are relevant damage mechanisms. SCG appears without influence of a surrounding medium or in “inert” media whereas ESC occurs in “active” media, which have decisive influence on damage mechanism and time to failure.
To characterize the inherent resistance of the material against those damage mechanisms, the Full-Notch Creep Test (FNCT) is widely used. Therefore, the FNCT is of paramount importance particularly for the assessment of pipe and blow molding types of PE-HD – especially for automotive but also for most other high-performance applications.
In this study, the FNCT – usually applied as a standardized testing method (ISO 16770) using a few universal model liquid media – is extended by investigations of selected relevant PE-HD materials with a variety of properties also in real media. Mainly topical fuels, customary in the market such as diesel and biodiesel are examined. Especially the influence of temperature, and the ESC behavior of PE-HD in media that are sorbed to a significant extent, are addressed.
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.
Additional to acquired results concerning time to failure and elongation behavior, imaging techniques, such as light microscopy (LM), laser scanning microscopy (LSM) and X-ray computed tomography (CT scan) were utilized to obtain data concerning crack propagation and media migration. Correlations of elongation behavior and data derived from imaging analysis such as fracture plane roughness were obtained.
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.
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.
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.