A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THERMAL AND MECHANICAL STABILITIES OF GAMMA IRRADIATED ETHYLENE - ETHYL ACRYLATE AND ETHYLENE - VINYL ACETATE COPOLYMERS

摘要

Ethylene-ethyl acrylate and Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers were irradiated in ambient conditions with γ -rays. The influence of the chain scission, crosslinking and relative changes in crystallinity on the thermal and mechanical properties were investigated and a correlation has been tried to find between the thermal and mechanical stabilities of copolymers. For the two copolymers, among various mechanical properties evaluated, the best correlation was found between the toughness (energy to break point) and the time required for 10% weight loss.