Environmental Stress Cracking - Examples

Examples

An obvious example of the need to resist ESC in everyday life is the automotive industry, in which a number of different polymers are subjected to a number of fluids. Some of the chemicals involved in these interactions include petrol, brake fluid and windscreen cleaning solution. Plasticisers leaching from PVC can also cause ESC over an extended period of time, for example. One of the first examples of the problem concerned ESC of LDPE. The material was initially used in insulating electric cables, and cracking occurred due to the interaction of the insulation with oils. The solution to the problem lay in increasing the molecular weight of the polymer. A test of exposure to a strong detergent such as Igepal was developed to give a warning of ESC.

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