Imagine the steel cables of a magnificent cross-sea bridge, the engine oil in the engine of a speeding car, or the casing of your mobile phone. These seemingly unrelated things all face a tiny yet deadly enemy - oxidation. This is a silent war that takes place at the molecular level, and the guardian of our modern industrial "lifeline" is a chemical family called "antioxidants".
Enemy - the omnipresent "Eclipse of Time"
Oxidation is the imprint left by time on matter. For organic materials, it is not a gentle aging, but a violent "chain collapse".
· Dagger of Heat and Light: When exposed to high temperatures during processing or ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the usage environment, the chemical bonds of material molecules (such as polymers and oils) are broken, generating highly reactive free radicals. These free radicals are akin to lit torches.
· Oxygen's role in combustion: Oxygen in the air immediately combines with these "torches" to produce destructive peroxy radicals. These radicals "snatch" hydrogen atoms from neighboring molecules, and the "robbed" molecules become new radicals, triggering a devastating chain reaction.
· Collapse outcome: Molecular chain breakage and crosslinking manifest macroscopically as yellowing, embrittlement, cracking, strength reduction, viscosity increase, and odor generation of the material. It can be said that without protection, the lifespan of the material is vulnerable to oxidation.
