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Chemical Contamination of Soft Drinks in Sealed Plastic Bottles by Environmental Stress Cracking
Author(s) -
Muller Dan,
IsraelsohnAzulay Osnat
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2008.00925.x
Subject(s) - polyethylene terephthalate , environmental stress cracking , contamination , soft drink , penetration (warfare) , polyethylene , waste management , materials science , environmental science , forensic engineering , composite material , chemistry , food science , stress corrosion cracking , engineering , ecology , alloy , operations research , biology
A contamination of soft drinks in sealed bottles by organic solvents is reported: closed bottles full of soft drinks were accidentally placed on a cardboard soaked with thinner and the organic fluid subsequently fissured the bottom of the bottles and penetrated into the soft drinks without any apparent leakage of the soft drinks. Experiments were carried out to simulate the process: the penetration of different organic solvents into soft drinks through the bottom of closed bottles was tested. The penetration occurred only when the closed bottles contained carbonated soft drinks (CSD), indicating that inner pressure is a necessary condition for the fissuring of the bottles. This paper discusses environmental stress cracking of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles by organic solvents and migration of chemicals to CSD. Experiments were conducted to determine the conditions in which PET can be permeable to poisoning organic products.