Curcumin Nanocrystals as Photodynamical Sensor Monitoring Ultraviolet Accelerated Aging of HDPE

• Published in: IEEE sensors journal 2020-01, Vol.20 (1), p.155-161
• Main Authors: de Araujo Rocha, Wilson Sergio, Grilo Rodrigues, Jose Carlos, Exposito de Queiroz, Alfredo Antonio Alencar, de Queiroz, Alvaro Antonio Alencar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accelerated aging; Aging; Cables; Correlation analysis; Degradation; Differential scanning calorimetry; Fluorescence; Fluorescent indicators; High density polyethylenes; Insulation; Mechanical properties; Modulus of elasticity; Monitoring; Nanocomposites; Nanocrystals; nanostructured materials; optical sensors; polyethylene; Polymers; Powders
• ISSN: 1530-437X; 1558-1748
• DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2019.2940982

In this work, curcumin nanocrystals (CCN) was used as fluorescence probes for monitoring the accelerated aging of high density polyethylene (HDPE) used in insulation of high-voltage cables. CCN has been synthesized and incorporated into HDPE matrix using hydrothermal process (HydP) at 202.65 kPa and temperatures of 60 °C and 120 °C. The apparent activation energy (E A ) for CCN incorporation into HDPE matrix was 54.4 kJ/mol. The resulting nanocomposite HDPE-CCN has been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and fluorescence spectroscopy (FS). The crystallinity of HDPE and HDPE-CCN determined by DSC were 71.27% and 70.30% respectively, suggesting that the presence of CCN does not modify significantly the microstructure of HDPE. Accelerated aging of HDPE-CCN samples was carried out and the stress to break (ε b ), Young's modulus (E) and fluorescence intensity (FI) were used as measurements of HDPE degradation. Mechanical properties (ε b , E) and FI measurements do correlate with age-related material degradation on the HDPE samples examined.