A Study on the Thermal and Oxidative Degradation of Polymer Materials

In forensic investigations, we often face the problem where we lack a reference material for a specific, known exposure. This is particularly common with polymeric materials. Rather than having references such as “chlorine bleach exposed material,” “outdoor UV exposed material,” or “thermally exposed material,” we usually only have material itself. This study will discuss creating and analyzing references samples for comparison to field failures. These reference samples can provide specific insights to better understand field failures.