Degradation of poly(methyl methacrylate) model compounds under extreme environmental conditions^a

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Australian Research Council (ARC) in the form of a Linkage Grant (Industry) and BlueScope Steel, as well as an Australian Post-Graduate Award (Industry) for F. B. C. B.-K. acknowledges past receipt of an Australian Professorial Fellowship (ARC) as well as current funding from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). T. P. D. acknowledges a Federation Fellowship (ARC). T. G. thanks the University of New South Wales for past financial support via the University International Postgraduate Award (UIPA).The authors thank Dr. L. Barner and Mr. I. Jacenyik for their excellent management of CAMD. We are grateful to Prof. M. Guilhaus (deceased 2009), Prof. B. Messerle, M. Page and A. Soeriyadi for experimental support. We also thank G. Vaughan, P. Thompson, P. Brockbank and J. Starling for assistance with the construction of the degradation ovens used in the current experiment.