Abstract
Vicat softening-point determination, differential thermal analyis and thermogravimetric analysis were used to investigate the thermal stability of polyethylenes irradiated with electron beams up to 100 Mrad. The softening temperatures of the irradiated low-density polyethylenes increased much more with increase in radiation dose than those of the irradiated high-density polyethylenes. The results of thermogravimetry show that the irradiated polyethylenes decompose in three stages in air, but in one stage in a nitrogen atmosphere. Those irradiated polyethylenes which decompose easily in nitrogen, as shown by calculation of activation energies, begin to decompose at relatively low temperature in air with increasing radiation dose. The irradiated polyethylenes, however, are less combustible than the unirradiated polyethylenes, since the initiation temperature for the second-stage degradation, which probably shows an ignition point, and the residue after the degradation, increase with increase of radiation dose. In addition, the differential thermal analysis was carried out to investigate the mechanism of the thermal decomposition of the irradiated polyethylenes.
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