The effect of high-energy electron beam on mechanical and thermal properties of LDPE and HDPE

Mechanical and thermal properties of low- and high-density polyethylene irradiated with 5 and 10 MeV electron beams are described. The electron beam accelerator was the RHODOTORON of the Yazd Radiation Processing Center and the dose range varied from 50 to 250 kGy. It is shown that for different types of polyethylenes, tensile strength increases as a function of irradiation dose and after certain dose decreases for both 5 and 10 MeV electron beams, but elongation at break decreases with increasing irradiation doses. The crystallization temperature and the heat of crystallization of irradiated samples decrease slowly as a function of irradiation dose due to crosslinking. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.