Changes to the morphology and coefficient of thermal expansion in HDPE and UHMWPE following irradiation-based crosslinking
This work describes recent findings of the Los Alamos National Laboratory concerning the alterations to polyethylene’s (PE’s) mechanical and chemical properties after crosslinking via gamma irradiation. Three materials were examined as part of this study, including one HDPE and two UHMWPE specimens. Changes to degree of crystallinity (X C ) were qualitatively determined via measurements of density, and results suggest that X C is not necessarily correlated to crosslink density, depending on polymer manufacturing process and treatment following irradiation. TMA data suggests an anisotropic response in linear thermal expansion, and that the response may be more correlated to X C than crosslink density. Finally, FTIR analysis has led to the conclusion that oxidation occurs as a result of irradiation in open air, the degree of oxidation is proportional to the maximum radiation dose received, and that oxidation is largely a surface effect, penetrating no deeper than 1.5 mm. Due to time constraints, a full dataset could not be generated for changes in creep and thermal properties as a result of irradiation, and TMA analysis is only complete for one material tested in this study. These measurements are ongoing and will provide more context to the hypotheses drawn in this work.