High Radiation-Resistant Elastomer via Constructing Radiation-Stable Macromolecular Network

Abstract

The high-energy radiation in nuclear energy, space missions, and other radiation-related fields would accelerate the deterioration of polymers, greatly reducing their service life and reliability. Here, a new concept of radiation resistance has been proposed, which is to reduce the effect of radiation degradation on polymer properties by constructing a radiation-stable macromolecular network. Concretely, this strategy was achieved by introducing a stable coordination interaction between macromolecules, and radiation-resistant elastomers (PG-Zn) were prepared. In radiated PG-Zn, the intermolecular coordination interaction could maintain the chain network well, even though its main chain has undergone a chain-breaking reaction. Therefore, after 300 kGy irradiation, PG-Zn still maintained nearly 18 MPa strength and 650% elongation at break, and its tensile deformation hysteresis rate was almost unchanged. The PG-Zn could be further modified, and the modified elastomer retains more than 80% of its mechanical properties after 300 kGy radiation, which is the most radiation-resistant elastomer reported to date. In addition, the design has good scalability and could be used to prepare radiation-resistant sensors, showing more than three times the service life of the ordinary group under irradiation. This radiation-resistant design presented a novel and promising approach for solving the radiation-aging problem of polymers.