The Influence of UV Radiation Aging on Degradation of Shear Thickening Fluids

Radosław Żurowski; Mariusz Tryznowski; Selim Gürgen; Mikołaj Szafran; Aleksandra Świderska

doi:10.3390/ma15093269

The Influence of UV Radiation Aging on Degradation of Shear Thickening Fluids

Materials (Basel). 2022 May 2;15(9):3269. doi: 10.3390/ma15093269.

Authors

Radosław Żurowski¹, Mariusz Tryznowski², Selim Gürgen³, Mikołaj Szafran¹, Aleksandra Świderska¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology, Noakowskiego 3, 00-664 Warsaw, Poland.
² Faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Narbutta 85, 02-524 Warsaw, Poland.
³ Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, 26040 Eskişehir, Turkey.

Abstract

Shear thickening fluids (STFs) are innovative materials that can find applications in smart body armor. However, the usage of STFs is limited by the aging of these materials. This work aims to analyze the influence of UV radiation on the aging process of STFs. The investigation was done experimentally, and artificial aging was applied to investigate the impact of UV radiation on the properties of STFs. The shear-thickening properties of obtained STFs were confirmed by viscosity measurements. The STFs based on PPG425, PPG2700, and KE-P10 exhibited a very high maximum viscosity of up to 580.7 Pa·s and 3313 Pa·s for the STF425 and STF2700, respectively. The aging of the obtained STFs caused the liquid matrix degradation, causing damage to the STFs and their change from liquid into solid. Furthermore, the FT-IR, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR spectroscopies were used for the confirmation of the breakdown of STFs. The FT-IR spectroscopy revealed the appearance of carbonyl groups in STFs after aging. Moreover, ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy confirmed the formation of the typical groups containing carbonyl groups. Our results demonstrate that STFs are UV light-sensitive and may lose their properties during storage.

Keywords: aging; lightfastness; product degradation; shear thickening fluids.

Grants and funding

Research was funded by POB Technologie Materiałowe of Warsaw University of Technology within the Excellence Initiative: Research University (IDUB) program. The APC was funded by Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange under grant no. PPI/APM/2018/1/00047 entitled “Industry 4.0 in Production and Aeronautical Engineering” (International Academic Partnerships Programme).