Changes in mechanical properties due to gamma irradiation of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)

• Autor(a) principal: Cota,S. S.
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Vasconcelos,V., Senne Jr.,M., Carvalho,L. L., Rezende,D. B., Côrrea,R. F.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-66322007000200010
• topic: Gamma irradiation; Polymers; Mechanical properties

This paper presents an experimental analysis of the effect of dose and dose rate parameters during gamma irradiation of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) samples. Considerations concerning the influence of these parameters on HDPE mechanical strength properties as a result of the predominance of oxidative degradation or of cross-linking are presented. The experimental results show an improvement of HDPE mechanical strength as dose increases, indicating the predominance of cross-linking over oxidative degradation and that lower doses are necessary to obtain a similar change in resistance parameters when radiation is applied at lower dose rates, showing that gamma radiation affects the HDPE in a more efficient way at lower dose rates.