Some preliminary studies of the thermal behaviour of electron beam grafted polyamides

• Published in: Applied radiation and isotopes Vol. 48; no. 10; pp. 1657 - 1662
• Main Authors: Timus, D.M., Popov, A.-M., Brasoveanu, M.M., Babes, A., Bradley, D.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-10-1997
• ISSN: 0969-8043; 1872-9800
• DOI: 10.1016/S0969-8043(97)00166-8

Attempts are being made by this group to improve the thermal characteristics of a polyamide based material commonly used in the textile industry. Study has been made of the use of accelerated electron beams for the induced grafting of acrylic and methacrylic acids onto sheets of polyamide fibres. Samples of polyamide, in the form of rectangular sheets of dimensions 10 cm × 10 cm, have been irradiated using a 3 GHz travelling wave electron accelerator of energy 6 MeV; the source incorporates a 0.1 mm Al foil exit window. Results show that the degree of grafting displays a number of critical dependencies, including irradiation dose and extent of monomer dilution. Application of the technique of differential scanning calorimetry to the study of these modified materials has indicated there to be a well-correlated association between increase in the degree of grafting and decrease in the softening rate of the modified polyamide as the melting temperature of the material is approached. Flame tests reveal that the greater the degree of grafting, the greater the similarity of the burning pattern of cellulosic materials, cotton, paper, etc. The decrease in signal magnitude and occasional disappearance of exothermic peaks for moderate degrees of grafting encourages this group to continue investigation of favourable modification of thermal behaviour of polyamide based materials through use of accelerated electron beam induced grafting.