Effects of temperature, packaging and electron beam irradiation processing conditions on the property behaviour of Poly (ether-block-amide) blends

• PEBA was melt blended with Irganox 565 and Tinuvin 783.
• All virgin and blended PEBA samples were exposed to electron beam irradiation.
• Virgin and blended PEBA was exposed to different temperatures during irradiation.
• Non-vacuum and vacuum packed PEBA samples were compared following irradiation.
• Virgin PEBA with non-vacuum packaging in dry ice improved the radiation resistance.

The radiation stability of Poly (ether-block-amide) (PEBA) blended with a multifunctional phenolic antioxidant and a hindered amide light stabiliser was examined under various temperatures, packaging and electron beam processing conditions. FTIR revealed that there were slight alterations to the PEBA before irradiation; however, these became more pronounced following irradiation. The effect of varying the temperature, packaging and processing conditions on the resultant PEBA properties was apparent. For example, rheology demonstrated that the structural properties could be enhanced by manipulating the aforementioned criteria. Mechanical testing exhibited less radiation resistance when the PEBA samples were vacuum packed and exposed to irradiation. MFI and AFM confirmed that the melting strength and surface topography could be reduced/increased depending on the conditions employed. From this study it was concluded that virgin PEBA submerged in dry ice with non-vacuum packaging during the irradiation process, provided excellent radiation resistance (20.9% improvement) in contrast to the traditional method.

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