ELECTRON-BEAM IRRADIATION OF POLY(PERFLUORO ETHERS) - IDENTIFICATION OF GASEOUS PRODUCTS AS A RESULT OF MAIN CHAIN SCISSION

Several poly(perfluoro ethers) are exposed to electron beams to study the mechanism for main chain scission. Electron beam exposures were performed with the viscous poly(perfluoro ethers) under argon gas, and also at 9 K under vacuum, to determine mechanistic details for the chemical degradation. Here we report that, after main chain scission of the bulk poly(perfluoro ethers), sample weight loss is observed concomitant with evolution of gaseous products. Since this suggests that some unzipping of the polymer chain occurs, the products were identified and, most importantly, the efficiency for their formation was determined in terms of G values, and compared to known G values for main chain scission. The results show that COF2 is the major gaseous product produced from unbranched ethers while CF4 and COF2 are the major products from branched polymers. The gaseous products were also exposed to the high-energy electron beam and the G values for decomposition are given.