ABSTRACT
There is a great interest at present in the photo-oxidative thermal degradation of polymeric materials because macromolecules have increasingly widespread commercial applications. All commercial organic polymers degrade in air when exposed to sunlight as the energy of sunlight is sufficient to cause the breakdown of polymeric bonds, moreover, degradation is due to the action of short-wavelength ultraviolet (UV) rays (A > 290 nm) present in the solar spectrum. As a consequence of degradation, the resulting smaller fragments do not contribute effectively to the mechanical properties and the article becomes brittle. Thus, the life of thermoplastics for outdoor applications becomes limited due to weathering [l-5].
