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    Ionizing Radiation and Polymers: Principles, Technology, and Applications
    Ionizing Radiation and Polymers: Principles, Technology, and Applications
    Ionizing Radiation and Polymers: Principles, Technology, and Applications
    Ebook496 pages2 hours

    Ionizing Radiation and Polymers: Principles, Technology, and Applications

    By Jiri George Drobny

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    About this ebook

    Radiation processing is widely employed in plastics engineering to enhance the physical properties of polymers, such as chemical resistance, surface properties, mechanical and thermal properties, particle size reduction, melt properties, material compatibility, fire retardation, etc.

    Drobny introduces readers to the science of ionizing radiation and its effects on polymers, and explores the technologies available and their current and emerging applications.

    The resulting book is a valuable guide for a wide range of plastics engineers employing ionizing radiation for polymer treatment in a range of sectors including packaging, aerospace, defense, medical devices and energy applications. Radiation resistant polymers are also explored.

    • Unlock the potential of ionizing radiation in applications such as electron-beam curing and laser joining
    • Gain an understanding of the selection and safe use of radiation treatment equipment
    • The only detailed guide to ionizing radiation written for the plastics engineering community
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherElsevier Science
    Release dateDec 31, 2012
    ISBN9781455778829
    Ionizing Radiation and Polymers: Principles, Technology, and Applications
    Author

    Jiri George Drobny

    Jiri G. Drobny is President of Drobny Polymer Associates, and former Adjunct Faculty of Plastics Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Drobny is an active educator, lecturer, writer, and internationally known consultant. His career spans more than 40 years in the rubber and plastic processing industry, mainly in research and development with senior and executive responsibilities.

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      Book preview

      Ionizing Radiation and Polymers - Jiri George Drobny

      polyethylene

      1

      Introduction

      Outline

      1.1 Radiation Types and Sources

      1.2 Ionizing Radiations

      1.3 Ion Beam Radiation

      1.4 Laser Beam Radiation

      References

      Radiant energy is one of the most abundant forms of energy available to humankind. Nature provides sunlight, the type of radiation essential for many forms of life and growth. Some natural substances, such as radioactive elements, generate the kind of radiation that can be destructive to life, but when harnessed, it can be very useful for medical and industrial applications.

      1.1 Radiation Types and Sources

      Devices for the generation of radiant energy useful in a great variety of scientific, industrial, and medical applications have been invented and perfected. Cathode ray tubes emit impulses that activate some screens of televisions and computer monitors. X-rays are used not only as diagnostic tools in medicine but also as an analytical tool in the inspection of manufactured products, such as tires and other composite structures as well as in the manufacture of polymer-based composites. Microwaves are used not only in cooking but also in heating of certain materials and a variety of electronic applications including ultraviolet (UV) curing lamps. Infrared (IR) radiation is used in heating, analytical chemistry, and a variety of electronic devices. Ion beams have been used extensively in commercial ion implantation in the production of semiconductor devices and also for surface hardening of metals, although their use in the processing of polymeric materials is limited to only specialized applications, such as treatment of polymer surfaces and thin films because they have extremely low penetration depths [1]. Laser beam radiation has found a wide use in medical and military applications, and in numerous industrial applications.

      UV and electron beam (EB) radiations are classified as electromagnetic radiation along with IR, visible, gamma, microwave, and laser beam radiations. The differences between various electromagnetic radiations are given in Table 1.1.

      Table 1.1 Frequency and Wavelength of Various Types of Electromagnetic Radiation

      The widely used industrial processes involving man-made electromagnetic radiations, namely UV and EB types, depend essentially on two electrically generated sources of radiation: photons from high-intensity UV lamps and accelerated electrons, respectively. The difference between those two is that accelerated electrons that penetrate matter are stopped only by mass, whereas high-intensity UV light affects only the surface. Both EB and UV radiations represent a clean and efficient use of electric energy. In the following chapters, we will limit our attention mainly to ionizing radiation, which includes EB, gamma, and X-ray radiations, with a particular stress on the EB equipment, processes, and applications.

      1.2 Ionizing Radiations

      Ionizing radiation can modify physical, chemical, and biological properties of the irradiated materials. At present, the principal industrial applications of radiation are sterilization of health-care products including pharmaceuticals, irradiation of food and agriculture products (for various end objectives, such as disinfestation, shelf life extension, sprout inhibition, pest control, and sterilization), and materials modification (such as polymerization, polymer cross-linking, and gemstone colorization).

      The main three types of ionizing radiation include high-energy electrons (EB), gamma rays (γ-rays), and X-rays. These are capable of not only converting monomeric and oligomeric liquids into solids but also producing major changes in properties of solid polymers. Also, in comparison to UV and visible radiations, they can penetrate considerably deeper into the material as illustrated in Figure 1.1.

      Figure 1.1 Comparison of UV and EB Radiations (Equal Substrate Thickness).

      1.2.1 Gamma Rays

      γ-Rays represent electromagnetic radiation emitted from excited atomic nuclei of unstable atoms, the so-called radionuclides, as an integral part of the process whereby the nucleus rearranges itself into a state of lower excitation (i.e., lower energy content). A γ-ray is a packet of electromagnetic energy—photons. These photons are the most energetic ones in the electromagnetic spectrum. Essentially, they are emitted by radioactive decay and have energies in the range from 10⁴ to 10⁷ eV. All γ-rays emitted from a given radioactive isotope have the same energy. γ-Rays penetrate matter farther than beta or alpha particles, producing ionization (electron disruption) in their path. In living cells, these disruptions result in damage to the DNA and other cellular structures eventually causing the death of the organism or render it incapable to reproduce. γ-Rays do not create residuals or impart radioactivity in the materials exposed to them. In that they are similar to X-rays (see Section 1.2.2). They ionize matter by three main processes: the photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, and pair production. In the wide energy range of 100 keV to 1 MeV, Compton scattering is the main absorption mechanism, in which an incident γ-photon loses enough energy to eject an electron in an atom of the irradiated matter, and the remainder of its energy is emitted as a new γ-photon with lower energy. γ-Irradiation using ⁶⁰Co source has a low-dose rate or dose absorbed by the matter per unit time (on the order of 10−3 kGy/s). The dose rate of γ-rays is much lower than that of an EB. The comparison of the sources of ionizing radiation is given in Table 1.2.

      Table 1.2 Comparison of Sources of Ionizing Radiation

      aMainly ⁶⁰Co.

      Compared to EB, gamma irradiation has a much higher penetration, which is an advantage when irradiating products with large volume. However, the absorbed dose decreases exponentially with the increasing depth of penetration following the Lambert–Beer law:

      (1.1)

      where It is the intensity of the radiation after passing through the thickness t, I0 is the initial intensity, and a is the coefficient of linear absorptivity. The attenuation reduces the dose uniformity across the matter.

      The most widely used radioactive isotopes used in medical and industrial applications are cobalt 60 (⁶⁰Co), cesium 137 (¹³⁷Cs), and iridium 192 (¹⁹²Ir). The half-life of ⁶⁰Co is 5.3 years, that of ¹³⁷Cs is 30 years, and the half-life of ¹⁹²Ir is 74 days [1]. (The half-life is defined as the period of time in which half the nuclei of a species of radioactive substance would decay.) When used for irradiation, the isotope is generally in the form of a pellet size 1.5×1.5 mm² loaded into a stainless steel capsule and sealed or in the form of rods or pencils.

      Unlike EB or X-rays, γ-rays cannot be turned off. Once radioactive decay starts, it continues until all the atoms have reached a stable state. The radioisotope can only be shielded to prevent exposure to the radiation. The most common applications of γ-rays are sterilization of single-use medical supplies, elimination of organisms from pharmaceuticals, microbial reduction in and on consumer products, cancer treatment, and processing of polymers (cross-linking, polymerization, degradation, etc.). It should be noted that the products that were irradiated by γ-rays do not become radioactive and thus can be handled normally.

      Strength (or power) of a γ-radiation source is referred to as radioactivity. It is defined as spontaneous changes in a nucleus accompanied by the emission of energy from the nucleus as a radiation. Units of radioactivity are curie (Ci) or bequerel (Bq). Radioactivity is defined as the number of disintegrations (dis) of radioactive nuclides per second. Bequerel is the SI unit of radioactivity, which is 1 dis/s. However, this is a very small amount of radioactivity, and traditionally it is measured in units of curie. 1 curie=3.7×10¹⁰ Bq. For a γ-radiator, source power may be calculated from the source activity, such that 10⁶ curie is approximately 15 kW of power.

      1.2.2 X-Rays

      X-radiation (also called Röntgen radiation) is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range from 10 to 0.01 nm, corresponding to frequencies ranging from 3×10¹⁶ to 3×10¹⁹ and energies in the range from 120 eV to 120 keV. They are considerably shorter in wavelength than the UV rays. Their names come from their discoverer Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who called them X-rays to signify an unknown type of radiation [2].

      X-rays span three decades in wavelength, frequency, and energy. From about 0.12 to 12 keV, they are classified as soft X-rays, and from 12 to 120 keV, as hard X-rays, due to their penetrating abilities. Since X-rays are a form of ionizing radiation, they can be dangerous to living organisms.

      There are two different atomic processes that can produce X-ray photons. One process produces bremsstrahlung (from German, meaning breaking radiation) and the other produces K-shell or characteristic emission. Both processes involve a change in the energy state of electrons. X-rays are generated when an electron is accelerated and then made to rapidly decelerate usually due to interaction with other atomic particles. In an X-ray system, a large amount of electric current is passed through a tungsten filament, which heats the filament to several thousand degrees centigrade to create a source of free electrons. A large potential is established between the filament (the cathode) and a target (the anode). The two electrodes are in a vacuum. The electrical potential between the cathode and anode pulls electrons from the cathode and accelerates them, as they are attracted toward the anode, which is usually made of tungsten (see Section 1.2.3). X-rays are generated when free electrons give up the energy as they interact with the orbital electrons or nucleus of an atom. The interaction of the electrons in the target results in the emission of a continuous radiation spectrum and also characteristic X-rays from the target material. Thus the difference between γ-rays and X-rays is that the γ-rays originate in the nucleus and X-rays originate in the electrons outside the nucleus (surrounding it) or are produced in an X-ray generator [3–6].

      Despite the high-power and high-dose rate, EB that is used for the production of X-rays has a serious limitation in the penetration of thick products. However, if the EB is converted into X-rays, it overcomes the problem of low penetration. The conversion process to X-rays has a low-efficiency, and X-ray irradiation has been made commercially feasible only with the development of high-energy and high-beam power electron accelerators.

      X-rays are primarily used for diagnostic radiography in medicine [7] and crystallography. Other notable uses are X-ray microscopic analysis, X-ray fluorescence as an analytical method, and industrial radiography for the inspection of industrial parts, such as tires and inspection of welds [8]. Recent reports and patents cover the use of X-rays in processing of variety of parts made from polymers, particularly in the form of advanced fiber-reinforced composites [9–13]. Similarly to γ-rays, the products that were irradiated by X-rays do not become

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