EVALUATION OF THE ANTIOXIDATIVE EFFICACY OF FULLERENE SOOT DOPED BY C60/C70 (85/15) FOR LOW-DENSITY/HIGH PRESSURE POLYETHYLENE NANOCOMPOSITES

Fullerenes (C60-70) although effective stabilizers-antioxidants for polymeric materials they have not yet found widespread practical application because of their high cost. As such, polymer manufacturers prefer to use classical stabilizers. In order to try to overcome this situation for some useful applications here the evaluation of relatively cheap fullerene soot (FS) doped additionally by C60/C70(85/15) is undertaken. Solution kinetic studies on the inhibition of model cumene oxidation combined with the thermal and mechanical analysis of the FS+C60/C70 integrated in a low-density/high pressure polyethylene (LDPE) matrix demonstrates the obvious advantage of a such an approach. The kinetic analysis made on the model reaction of initiated oxidation of cumene showed that the antioxidant activity of samples of fullerene carbon black doped with fullerenes C60-70 exhibits inhibition rate constants with high enough values comparable to those of strong industrial antioxidants such as Irganox 1010/1076. The additional portions of C60-70 fullerenes slightly increase the commercial cost of the FS itself, while the higher efficiency of the modified fullerene samples shown by thermal and mechanical analysis prevails more and allows us to recommend them for the industrial use at a measured optimal concentration of 1%w/w in the polymer