The effect of polyfunctional monomers on radiation crosslinking of polyethylene

Abstract

I~TER~ST in the commercial application of radiation processes developed under laboratory conditions is steadily increasing. In connection with this tendency some attention has been given in recent years to the technical and economic efficiency and the competitive viability of radiation chemical processes, and to a search for methods of lowering the cost of irradiation or increasing the yield of the reaction. In particular a number of authors have studied the problem of the possibility of increasing the yield in the radiation erosslinking of polyolefins by means of various polyfunctional additives [1-6]. In earlier work of the present authors [7] it was shown that triallyl eyanurate (TAC) is a very effective sensitizer for the radiation crosslinking of polypropylene, and similarly diallyl maleate (DAM), allyl methacrylate (AMA) etc. for polyethylene. The present work is a continuation of the earlier work and is devoted to study of the effect of the above polyfunctional monomers on the radiation crosslinking of polyethylene (I~E), study of structural changes in the polymer-monomer system and examination of the effect of the method of introduction of the polyfunctional monomer into the polymer on the behaviour of the resulting composition under irradiation and on the radiation crosslinking yield.