Chain reactions of chemical decomposition forming free radicals can promote the formation of micro-cracks and/or surface hardening. The orientation of the phases would be beneficial to the increase in the mechanical properties. In this way, the molecular weight, gel content, and thermal analyses were investigated.

The average weight molecular weight (𝑀𝑤) and polydispersion (𝑀𝑤/𝑀𝑛), obtained through the surface region GPC curves, before and after UV irradiation, are shown in Figure 3. A tendency of molecular weight reduction was observed, as a variation of polydispersion in the investigated times. This behavior was also reported by other researchers in distinct works on degradation process [19].