Their purpose is to protect polymers from thermo-oxidative degradation both during the manufacturing process (short stabilization) and during the subsequent transformation phases.
Antioxidant additives act also long-term, preserving the characteristics of the finished product.

During the production process, heating polymers creates free radicals that modify the chemical structure of the resins by generating gels and changing the length of polymer chains, resulting in loss and/or deterioration of their mechanical characteristics (change of MFI, worsening of gloss) and of their aesthetic properties, including discoloration.

Possible processing problems
The presence of antioxidants might lead to a few problems, such as gas fading discoloration of polymers toward yellow or pink.
This problem is easily fixed by using our ‘no gas fading’ antioxidant additives.