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Curing Plastic Containers
- Thread starter Dave
- Start date
What???? As a chemist, I need to ask one thing...cure what????
I apologize for the abrupt response, but unless the chemistry of plastics has changed in the past couple of years, it’s just a long chain organic compound that, once formed, has reached its final structure. It’s not like, as an example, concrete, that continues to form bonds/hydration, long after the mixing of water initiates the reaction…which continues for months…it cures. Plastic…done once the monomer has polymerized!
I apologize for the abrupt response, but unless the chemistry of plastics has changed in the past couple of years, it’s just a long chain organic compound that, once formed, has reached its final structure. It’s not like, as an example, concrete, that continues to form bonds/hydration, long after the mixing of water initiates the reaction…which continues for months…it cures. Plastic…done once the monomer has polymerized!
Well, I had never heard of this either, but I ran across this post yesterday which prompted my question.
http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=335528&highlight=curing+plastic
http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=335528&highlight=curing+plastic
Thanks for the link. I wouldn’t call it curing though. This guy is cleaning off any surface contaminants (which could be plastisizers, mold release agents, etc.) while also oxidizing the surface of the plastic. This guy would have been better off asking if you WASHED your plastic buckets before using them…but not cured. The one thing that doesn’t fly in his argument is what about all the other “plastics” we use in our tanks that are in continuous contact with saltwater…does he “cure” these as well….power heads, pumps, pvc pipe, clear tubing, overflow boxes, acrylic (plastic) walls in the sump, egg crate, etc., et., etc…..his argument doesn’t fly with me!
That being said, I’ve always had a concern about heavy metals leaching into our tanks from plastics, especially those items coming from a certain country. I worked in a joint development project with a plastics company from another country, and they could not produce plastic without heavy metals. It was very frustrating, since we wanted to use these items in medical devices.
That being said, I’ve always had a concern about heavy metals leaching into our tanks from plastics, especially those items coming from a certain country. I worked in a joint development project with a plastics company from another country, and they could not produce plastic without heavy metals. It was very frustrating, since we wanted to use these items in medical devices.