Efectele degradării UV asupra polimerilor pot fi evaluate din factorii discutați mai jos.
Modificarea structurii chimice - Intemperii naturale este în mod normal o degradare oxidativă care produce grupări hidroperoxi, hidroxi, carbonil și legături-încrucișate, care pot fi detectate prin spectroscopie IR, UV și RMN.
Schimbare la suprafață - Most of the oxidative degradation takes place at the surface of polymeric material because oxidative processes are more intense at surface due to greater availability of oxygen and high temperature. Thus, a brittle outer layer is formed on polymer surface due to weathering and with the help of SEM or optical microscopy it can be observed.
fragilizarea - Many oxidative degradation processes cause embrittlement in polymers, which can be easily examined manually.
Generarea de radicali liberi - Almost all the degradation processes are free radical reactions and generation of various types of free radicals can be detected by electron spin resonance spectroscopy.
Modificarea masei moleculare - Reduction in molecular weight due to chain scission processes is commonly observed phenomenon during polymer degradation. Viscosity measurements and GPC are the commonly used techniques to study this aspect of polymer degradation.
Pierderea proprietăților mecanice - Change in chemical structure and chain scission processes are reflected in the loss in mechanical properties of a degraded polymeric material.
Deteriorarea transparenței - This can be observed even manually that transparent polymeric material loses its transparency upon degradation. This is due to formation of different morphology on polymer degradation. This results in heterogeneity in bulk of a polymeric material, which scatters incident light rather than transmitting it. Eventually polymeric material loses its transparency.
