Effect of dose rate on the radiation‐induced polymerization of ethylene in <i>tert</i>‐butyl alcohol

Abstract

Abstract The dependence of the dose rate on the rate of radiation‐induced polymerization of ethylene in tert ‐butyl alcohol containing 5 vol‐% water was studied. The reaction was carried out by use of a reactor with a capacity of 100 ml under the following conditions: pressure, 200 kg/cm 2 ; temperature, 24 ± 3°C; dose rate, 3.7 × 10 4 −1.6 × 10 5 rad/hr; amount of medium, 70 ml. The dose rate exponents for rate of the polymerization, the molecular weight, and the number of polymer chain were found to be about 0.8, −0.1, and 0.9, respectively. These results were well explained with kinetic results (obtained by a novel analytical method) for the polymerization which contain both first‐order and second‐order terminations for the concentrations of propagating radical. The individual values of the rate constants in each elementary reaction were also obtained.