Open Access

ARTICLE

Study of the Effect of UV-exposure on HDPE/Carbon Black Composite Floating Structure

by Alok K. Sahu^a, Rajshree Vijayvargiya^a,*, R. M. Sarviya^b

a Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology, Raipur, C.G., India.
b Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, M.P., India.

* Corresponding Author: e-mail:

Journal of Polymer Materials 2022, 39(3-4), 183-193. https://doi.org/10.32381/JPM.2022.39.3-4.1

Abstract

HDPE material is found to be best suited material for the manufacturing of floating bed structure for the solar photovoltaic (PV) system due to its light weight and excellent mechanical & chemical resistant properties. However, the major restriction in this regard is the limited engineering design and also the effect of UV radiations present in the natural environment that leads to the degradation of the plastic materials. Hence, in order to improve its UV stability carbon black is incorporated into it as UV resistant additive and hollow cubical floats of such HDPE/carbon black composite material has been manufactured by rotational molding process and studied. Similarly, hollow cubical floats of virgin HDPE material was also manufactured and studied for comparison.
The mechanical behavior of HDPE and HDPE /carbon black (CB) composite floats have been evaluated under artificial weathering condition (UV-exposure) at different intervals of time till 1152 hours, to perceive the lifespan of floating bed. It was observed that virgin material degrades more rapidly as compared to HDPE/Carbon Black (CB) composite floats. HDPE/CB floats do not show any major degradation of properties even after UV exposure. For virgin HDPE, the tensile strength & elongation at break were reduced to 42.13% & 52.9% respectively due to chemical cross linking along with the chain scission which causes photo degradation of the polymer whereas for HDPE/CB the value limits to 4.2% and 10.38% which confirms uniform dispersion of carbon black and good interfacial adhesion with HDPE matrix. The impact resistance did not show any significant change due to UV exposure in both the cases. However, hardness was increased more (upto 8.19%) in non-filled material due to deterioration of low molecular weight polymer but it was maintained in HDPE/CB due to the molecules of the filler and polymers are closely packed at macroscopic level so the intermolecular packing of material can be attributed to modifications in the amorphous regions. It is concluded that HDPE material with 2% CB depicts better mechanical properties for floating bed than virgin HDPE floats after accelerated UV exposure and is safe to bear the load of solar panels.

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