New metal chelates for the photostabilisation of polyolefins

The photostabilizing effect of two organic nickel-compounds: nickel-fumarate and nickel-dimethyl-glyoxime on LDPE films is investigated and compared to the effectiveness of two well-known quencher-type stabilisers: Cyasorb UV 1084 and Irgastab 2002. The LDPE film samples containing the same percent of the four nickel compounds and an unstabilised sample were exposed to artificial and natural (outdoor) photodegradation. The damages caused by the exposure were estimated by tensile strength, elongation at break and IR absorption spectrophotometry measurements. According to the results of the investigations, nickel-fumarate has a real photostabilising effect on LDPE film which is similar to the effect produced by Cyasorb UV 1084, and Ni-dimethylglyoxime is more effective than the other studied compounds. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.