Stabilizer (chemistry)

In industrial chemistry, a stabilizer or stabiliser is a chemical that is used to prevent degradation.
Overview.
Heat and light stabilizers are added to plastics because they ensure safe processing and protect products against aging and weathering. The trend is towards fluid systems, pellets, and increased use of masterbatches. There are monofunctional, bifunctional, and polyfunctional stabilizers. In economic terms the most important product groups on the market for stabilizers are compounds based on calcium (calcium-zinc and organo-calcium), lead, and tin stabilizers as well as liquid and light stabilizers (HALS, benzophenone, benzotriazole). Cadmium-based stabilizers largely vanished in the last years due to health and environmental concerns.
Polymers.
Some kinds of stabilizers are:
Food.
In foods, stabilizers prevent spoilage. Classes of food stabilizers include emulsifiers, thickeners and gelling agents, foam stabilizers, humectants, anticaking agents, and coating agents."