Electron beam irradiated polyamide-6 at different temperatures

Electron beam irradiation of Polyamide-6 (PA-6) films was carried out over a range of irradiation doses (15–1200 kGy) in air at different temperatures (from room temperature to 80 °C), and at a dose rate of 4.48 kGy/min. The effect of temperature on the radiochemical crosslinking, scission yield, and the dose of incipient gel formation of PA-6 were investigated on the basis of solution viscosity, molecular weight and gel content. The crosslinking efficiency increases with increasing irradiation dose and temperature. The crosslinking rates of PA-6 irradiated above the glass transition temperature (Tg), about 50 °C, are higher than those samples irradiated at temperatures below Tg. FTIR and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy are used to determine modifications in the samples induced by irradiation. EPR was also used to study the decay of the free radicals.