Abstract
Polypropylene (PP) has a wide range of applications in the automobile bumpers due to its many excellent properties. Mechanical properties of PP for automobile bumpers are investigated through an artificial accelerated aging test. The aging rules after different years of normal use and the artificial accelerated aging test are analyzed. The correlation between natural and artificially accelerated aging is also explored. It provides a reference for the study of the aging properties of polymers for automotive applications. Results show that the UV aging test can effectively simulate changes in tensile and bending strengths after natural aging and can be used to evaluate the weathering resistance of PP materials used in automotive bumpers. The tensile and bending strengths of these materials remain good during aging, and elongation is sensitive to aging. The short-term artificial accelerated aging test does not exert a significant influence on the impact strength of materials, and artificial accelerated aging does not completely reproduce the aging process of the material.
Keywords: passenger vehicle bumpers; polypropylene; mechanical properties; natural aging; artificial accelerated aging