How plastic can rust, sort of
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How plastic can rust, sort of
1–10 of 29 posts
Re: How plastic can rust, sort of
#2several years back there was an article where someone methodically tried several compounds to restore yellowed plastics (IIRC it was the fire suppressant in the plastic that caused the discoloration)
person put a lot of work into finding a solution. Wish I could find the article. It was a great read - cleverness, hardwork and the scientific method.
Re: How plastic can rust, sort of
#3I wonder how hydrogen peroxide (a strong oxidant) can reverse the yellowing of plastics, if the yellowing is the result of oxidation. I'm not a chemist, but this doesn't seem to make sense.
Re: How plastic can rust, sort of
#4several years back there was an article where someone methodically tried several compounds to restore yellowed plastics (IIRC it was the fire suppressant in the plastic that caused the discoloration) person put a lot of work into finding a solution. Wish I could find the article. It was a great read - cleverness, hardwork and the scientific method.
Re: How plastic can rust, sort of
#5I wonder how hydrogen peroxide (a strong oxidant) can reverse the yellowing of plastics, if the yellowing is the result of oxidation. I'm not a chemist, but this doesn't seem to make sense.
I'd guess it strips away a thin layer of plastic to reveal the non-yellowed plastic underneath.
Re: How plastic can rust, sort of
#6I suspect a lot of these electronics are intended for indoor use and are not made of UV stabilized plastics. I'd rather have yellowed electronics than ones made brittle by being left outside in the sun.
Re: How plastic can rust, sort of
#7I can't believe the sunlight trick works. My brain always thought it was the sun that made it yellow! I saw this first on the Retro Recipes channel a while back where he shared some theories on the maybe how's and why's. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P1OVj0IcqY)
I was very skeptical, but I tried it out on my very very yellow Nintendo Famicon, as well as some smoker-teeth-yellow keyboard keys on an old Roland synth... left them out in the sun for a couple of days (2x3hours). It worked really well on both my test subjects! Certainly not perfect "retrobrite" white - but much better than I expected.
Re: How plastic can rust, sort of
#8I wonder how hydrogen peroxide (a strong oxidant) can reverse the yellowing of plastics, if the yellowing is the result of oxidation. I'm not a chemist, but this doesn't seem to make sense.
I am not sure either. I have some quirky white plastic Matroshka measuring cups that I left out on the sill as a decoration for several years. They were exposed to sunlight, and have yellowed. Interestingly, if I run them through the dishwasher they become even more yellow, and fade with a bit of time.
I wonder if it has anything to do with sodium perchlorate in the dishwasher tabs, the heat of the dishwasher or both.
Re: How plastic can rust, sort of
#9I suspect a lot of these electronics are intended for indoor use and are not made of UV stabilized plastics. I'd rather have yellowed electronics than ones made brittle by being left outside in the sun.
A couple of hours will not make a difference. After a couple hundred hours you will see uv radiation effects
Re: How plastic can rust, sort of
#10I wonder how hydrogen peroxide (a strong oxidant) can reverse the yellowing of plastics, if the yellowing is the result of oxidation. I'm not a chemist, but this doesn't seem to make sense.
Hydrogen peroxide is a very aggressive oxidizer compared to molecular oxygen and will break down molecules instead of just adding to them.