A new treatment for the interpretation of radical decay in γ-irradiated polyethylene

Abstract

Abstract The decay of polymer radicals in γ-irradiated polyethylene as measured by EPR is discussed from the viewpoint of a continuous but not constant distribution over the activation free energy and of the kinetic constants. The possibility of determining this distribution from experimental results alone is shown. In addition, the new treatment enables us to obtain more clearly the various temperature regions in which radical decay takes place most rapidly, and this allows a distinction by EPR, for instance, even between several kinds of low-density polyethylene.