Handbook of UV Degradation and Stabilization

This book is a completely updated version of the previous edition, with the most recent literature and patents. It has 12 chapters, each discussing a different aspect of UV-related phenomena that occur when materials are exposed to UV radiation.

The introduction reviews the existing literature to determine how plants, animals, and humans protect themselves against UV radiation. This review permits comparing mechanisms of protection against UV used by living things and the effect of UV radiation on materials derived from natural products, polymers, and rubber.

Photophysics, discussed in the second chapter, helps to build an understanding of physical phenomena occurring in materials when they are exposed to UV radiation. Potentially useful stabilization methods become obvious from the analysis of the process's photophysics.

These effects are combined with the photochemical properties of stabilizers and their mechanisms of stabilization, which is the subject of Chapter 3.

Chapter 4 contains information on available UV stabilizers. It contains data prepared according to a systematic outline, as listed in the Table of Contents.

Chapter 5 discusses the stability of UV stabilizers, which is important for predicting the lifetime of their protection. The evaluation points out different reasons for instability.

Chapter 6 provides the principles of stabilizer selection. This chapter discusses ten areas of influence of stabilizer properties and expectations from the final products.

Chapters 7 and 8 give specific information on the degradation and stabilization of different polymers & rubbers and the final products manufactured from them, respectively. Over 50 polymers and rubbers are discussed in different sections of Chapter 7, and over 40 groups of final products, which use the majority of UV stabilizers, are discussed in Chapter 8. In addition, more focused information is provided in Chapter 9 for sunscreens. This is an example of new developments in technology. The subjects discussed in each individual case of polymer or group of products are given in the Table of Contents.

Chapter 10 discusses specific effects of UV stabilizers that may affect formulation because of interactions between UV stabilizers and other formulation components. Chapter 11 discusses analytical methods, which are most frequently used in UV stabilization, to show their potential in further understanding UV degradation and stabilization.

The book concludes with the effect of UV stabilizers on the health and safety of workers involved in the processing and commercial use of the products (Chapter 12).

This book is an excellent companion to the Databook of UV Stabilizers, which was also recently published. Both books supplement each other without repeating the same information-one contains data, another theory, mechanisms of action, practical effects, and implications of application.

The information contained in both books is essential for the automotive industry, aerospace, polymers and plastics, rubber, cosmetics, preservation of food products, and the large number of industries that derive their products from polymers and rubber (e.g., adhesives, appliances, coatings, coil coated materials, construction, extruded profiles and their final products, greenhouse films, medical equipment, packaging materials, paints, pharmaceutical products, pipes and tubing, roofing materials, sealants, solar cells and collectors, siding, wire and cable, and wood).