Cross-Unking and Crystallinity in Irradiated Polyethylene

Abstract During the years 1944–1945, while working on the Manhattan Project at the University of California Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley, the author had access to classified reports which included, among other things, the effect of high-energy radiation on components of nuclear piles, such as electrical insulation. However, in these reports no attempts to determine the actual molecular mechanisms of the radiation effects were described. Consequently, it was rather obvious that this was a wide open area for research, so when the author returned to his normal duties with the Faculty of Chemistry at Northwestern University, the decision was made to begin such a study. With the support of the Visking Corp. of Chicago (now a part of Union Carbide), such a research was begun. The Visking Corp. supplied financial support as well as films of low-density polyethylene (PE) for our study. With the aid of the graduate student Donald R. Rose these films were irradiated with a mixture of gamma and neutron rays in t...

[1]  Adolphe Chapiro,et al.  Radiation Chemistry of Polymeric Systems , 1962 .

[2]  M. Dole,et al.  IRRADIATION OF POLYETHYLENE. II. KINETICS OF UNSATURATION EFFECTS , 1958 .

[3]  M. Dole.  The radiation chemistry of macromolecules , 1972 .

[4]  A. Keller,et al.  Radiation-induced changes in physical properties of bulk polyethylene. I. Effect of crystallization conditions , 1975 .

[5]  L. Mandelkern.  13 – Radiation Chemistry of Linear Polyethylene , 1972 .

[6]  Keller,et al.  Crystallinity and the effect of ionizing radiation in polyethylene. I. Crosslinking and the crystal core , 1975 .

[7]  H. B. Knowles,et al.  Radiation Physics and Chemistry of Polymers , 1975 .

[8]  Milton Burton,et al.  Radiation chemistry of monomers, polymers, and plastics , 1974 .

[9]  A. Charlesby.  Cross-linking of polythene by pile radiation , 1952, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[10]  J. Silverman,et al.  Radiation induced crosslinking of polyethylene in the presence of bifunctional vinyl monomers , 1977 .

[11]  A. Bueche,et al.  Irradiation of Polymers by High-Energy Electrons , 1953, Nature.

[12]  A. Keller,et al.  Crystallinity and the effect of ionizing radiation in polyethylene. II. Crosslinking in chain‐folded single crystals , 1975 .

[13]  M. Dole,et al.  INHIBITION OF CRYSTALLIZATION IN POLYETHYLENE SUBSEQUENT TO GAMMA IRRADIATION , 1958 .

[14]  E. Lawton,et al.  Effect of physical state during the electron irradiation of hydrocarbon polymers. Part I. The influence of physical state on reactions occurring in polyethylene during and following the irradiation , 1958 .

[15]  A. Keller,et al.  Experiments on the location of chain ends in monolayer single crystals of polyethylene , 1968 .

[16]  M. Dole,et al.  The Radiation Chemistry of Polyethylene. IX. Temperature Coefficient of Cross-Linking and Other Effects , 1967 .

[17]  A. Charlesby,et al.  Molecular weight determination of irradiated polyisobutylene by N.M.R. techniques , 1976 .

[18]  A. Charlesby.  Atomic Radiation and Polymers , 1960 .

[19]  W. Stockmayer.  Theory of Molecular Size Distribution and Gel Formation in Branched Polymers II. General Cross Linking , 1944 .

[20]  J. Sauer,et al.  Effect of thermal history on the dynamic modulus at 20°C. of irradiated polyethylene , 1957 .

[21]  P. Flory,et al.  Equilibrium between Crystalline and Amorphous Phases in Polyethylene1 , 1961 .

[22]  Walter Y. Wen,et al.  Radiation chemistry of polyethylene. XII. Alkyl radical decay and amorphous content , 1973 .

[23]  J. E. Kelly,et al.  Synthesis and polymerization of 2‐oxo‐3,8‐ dioxabicyclo [3.2.1] octane , 1975 .

[24]  G. N. Patel.  Crystallinity and the effect of ionizing radiation in polyethylene. V. Distribution of trans‐vinylene and trans,trans conjugated double bonds in linear polyethylene , 1975 .

[25]  A. Charlesby,et al.  Pulsed N.M.R. studies of radiation-induced crosslinking and gel formation in linear polydimethy siloxane , 1976 .

[26]  A. Rijke,et al.  Irradiation of linear polyethylene - Partitioning between sol and gel. , 1971 .

[27]  A. Charlesby,et al.  Study of very high molecular weight polyethylene using pulsed NMR techniques , 1978 .

[28]  A. Charlesby,et al.  Analysis of crosslinked and entangled polymer networks as studied by nuclear magnetic resonance , 1977, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[29]  A. Miller,et al.  The Radiation Chemistry of Hydrocarbon Polymers: I. Polyethylene, Polymethylene and Octacosane. , 1956 .

[30]  K. W. Doak,et al.  Crystalline olefin polymers , 1964 .

[31]  S. H. Pinner,et al.  Analysis of the solubility behaviour of irradiated polyethylene and other polymers , 1959, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[32]  A. Keller,et al.  THE EFFECT OF CRYSTALLIZATION CONDITIONS ON RADIATION-INDUCED CROSSLINK FORMATION IN POLYETHYLENE. PART I. THE BASIC RADIATION-SOLUBILITY RELATIONSHIP , 1965 .

[33]  R. Simha,et al.  Transitions in semicrystalline polymers. II. Polyoxymethylene and poly(ethylene oxide) , 1977 .

[34]  D. W. Mccall.  Nuclear magnetic resonance studies of molecular relaxation mechanisms in polymers , 1971 .

[35]  G. N. Patel.  Crystallinity and the effect of ionizing radiation in polyethylene. IV. Effect of segregation of low molecular weight chains on determination of main‐chain scission in linear polyethylene , 1975 .

[36]  C. Grobbelaar,et al.  The improvement of polyethylene prostheses through radiation crosslinking , 1977 .

[37]  M. Dole,et al.  RADIATION CHEMISTRY OF POLYETHYLENE. XI. THE MOLTEN STATE. , 1971 .

[38]  G. N. Patel.  Crystallinity and the effect of ionizing radiation in polyethylene. VI. Decay of vinyl groups , 1975 .

[39]  M. Dole,et al.  Solubility of Hydrogen in Polyethylene by a Semimicro Method , 1972 .