Polymer, Vol.40, No.4, 835-841, 1999
Influence of morphology and chemical structure on the inverse response of polypropylene to gamma radiation under vacuum
In this work the influence of the chemical structure and of the morphology on the gamma-radiation effects on polypropylene based polymers is studied on the basis of a previously discussed kinetic model [1]. For this aim an isotactic polypropylene and a random ethylene-propylene copolymer were irradiated under vacuum at one dose rate and several absorbed doses after well defined solidification conditions. We show that the model is reliable varying both the chemical structure and the morphology of the polypropylene based polymer. An inversion of the response of the material to gamma radiation under vacuum is always observed, and the inversion conditions depend on the irradiation parameters. In particular at a fixed dose rate we check an absorbed dose, depending on the ethylene and mesomorphic phase content in the polymer, in correspondence of which a significant change in the molecular response to gamma irradiation occurs.