Cosmetic Plastic Tube Polymer Materials
The inherent structural characteristics and physical states of cosmetic plastic tube polymer materials, as well as the external factors they are exposed to during use, such as heat, light, thermal oxygen, ozone, water, acids, bases, bacteria and enzymes, can lead to a decline or loss of their performance. For instance, they may turn yellow, experience a decrease in relative molecular mass, develop surface cracks, and lose luster. More seriously, their mechanical properties, such as impact strength, tensile strength and elongation, may drop significantly, thus affecting their normal use.
This phenomenon is simply referred to as aging. Aging can occur at all stages of cosmetic plastic tube polymer materials, from synthesis, storage and processing to final application, which can lead to the premature end of their service life and large-scale waste, causing a huge waste of resources and severe environmental pollution. Aging during the use of cosmetic plastic tube polymer materials is more likely to cause huge disasters and irreparable losses.
Therefore, anti-aging of cosmetic plastic tube polymer materials has become an issue that the polymer industry must address.
The aging of cosmetic plastic tube polymer materials, especially photo-oxidative aging, usually starts from the surface of the material or product, manifesting as discoloration, powdering, cracking, and a decrease in gloss, and then gradually penetrates into the interior. Thin products are more prone to premature failure than thick ones, so increasing the thickness of the product can extend its service life. For products that are prone to aging, a protective coating with good weather resistance can be applied to the surface or a layer of material with good weather resistance can be compounded on the outer layer, thereby providing a protective layer on the surface of the product and delaying the aging process.
Many materials also have aging problems during synthesis or preparation, such as the influence of heat during polymerization and thermal oxidative aging during processing. Correspondingly, the impact of oxygen can be mitigated by adding deoxygenation devices or vacuum devices during polymerization or processing. However, this method can only ensure the performance of the material at the time of factory release and can only be implemented from the source of material preparation, and cannot solve the aging problem during reprocessing and use.
Many cosmetic plastic tube polymer materials contain groups that are highly prone to aging in their molecular structure. Therefore, by designing the molecular structure of the material and replacing easily aging groups with less aging groups, good results can often be achieved.
Currently, the effective way and common method to improve the aging resistance of cosmetic plastic tube polymer materials is to add anti-aging additives. Due to their low cost and no need to change the existing production process, they are widely used. The application advantage lies in that the anti-aging additives are pre-dispersed during the preparation of masterbatches, and then are re-dispersed during the later material processing, achieving the goal of uniform dispersion of the additives in the polymer material matrix. This not only ensures the stability of product quality but also avoids dust pollution during production, making the production more environmentally friendly and green.