The importance of greenhouse and small tunnel films is documented by the estimated 500,000 hectares of land given over to protected cultivation worldwide. This application can be particularly critical for polyethylene films (LDPE, LLDPE, EVA, EBA) due to, among other items, to high ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure, heat build-up on the greenhouse supports, and the effect of crop protection and soil disinfection chemicals that are extensively used in agriculture. These chemicals and the products of their decomposition can affect the long-term properties of the films and attack stabilizers. The extent of this interaction depends on many parameters, such as the types of chemicals used, frequency of treatments, types of crops, temperature and humidity etc., and thus is very difficult to predict. This explains why the chemical resistance requirement for greenhouse film stabilizers is, in many cases, compulsory. | 
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