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Radiation effects of an electron beam on the microhardness of poly(methyl methacrylate): Poly(chlorotrifluoroethylene) polyblends
Author(s) -
Bajpai R.,
Agrawal Pragyesh,
Datt S. C.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/pi.1994.210340302
Subject(s) - chlorotrifluoroethylene , indentation hardness , materials science , composite material , irradiation , scanning electron microscope , methyl methacrylate , cathode ray , microstructure , electron , polymer , monomer , copolymer , physics , tetrafluoroethylene , quantum mechanics , nuclear physics
Specimens of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA): poly(chlorotrifluoroethylene) (PCTFE) polyblends with different weight percentage ratios were subjected to electron beam irradiation (1–10 Mrad). The effect of irradiation on the strength of the blend specimens was studied by measuring the surface microhardness using a Vicker's microhardness tester attached to a Carl Zeiss NU 2 Universal research microscope. Significant changes were observed in the Vicker's hardness number, H v . An irradiation dose of 3 Mrad was found to enhance greatly the microhardness level of the specimens. An increase of approximately 78% in microhardness was observed as the radiation dose was increased from 1 to 3 Mrad. Electron irradiation was also found to induce crosslinking and degradation in the material. The degree of crosslinking was found to be maximum at a dose of 3 Mrad. Specimens incorporating 10 wt% PCTFE were found to exhibit the highest level of microhardness at all radiation doses.