The chemical structure and the photo-resistance of some polyamides☆

Abstract The quantitative and qualitative results of determining the composition of the products of photolytic decomposition in vacuum on a series of aliphatic, aryl-aliphatic and aromatic polyamides (PA) show that aromatic and aryl-aliphatic PA are more photo-stable than aliphatic PA. The causes of these phenomenon are dealt with. The study of photo-oxidative decomposition of PA with 18 O revealed the contribution made by oxidative reactions to the photo-degradation of the polymers. The experimental results indicate the greater reactivity of aliphatic PA with atmosphere oxygen and a mechanism for some of the main photo-oxidative products is proposed.