Kinetics and Mechanism of the Oxidation of Polymers in a Stressed State

The characteristics of the kinetics and mechanism of the chain oxidation of stressed polymers are considered as a result of structural and conformational changes occurring in polymer matrices under the influence of mechanical stresses. Attention has been concentrated on the kinetics of the autoxidation of polyolefins subjected to the influence of stretching stresses and the kinetics of the ozonisation and autoxidation of stressed raw and cured rubbers. The results of studies on the kinetics of individual stages of the chain process, namely initiation, propagation, degenerate branching, and termination of kinetic chains in stressed polyolefins, are surveyed; the effects of orientational stretching in the kinetics of the oxidation of polyolefins are considered. The relation between the kinetics of oxidation, durability, and the mechanism of the decomposition of oriented specimens subjected to an external mechanical load is discussed. The method of defectoscopy of polymers subjected to the simultaneous influence of mechanical stresses and an oxidising medium, based on the local character of the oxidation of stressed polymers, is considered.
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