Radiation induced oxidative degradation of ethylene-propylene rubber by IR spectroscopy

Abstract

Infrared absorption spectroscopy has been used to investigate the effect of γ-radiation on copolymer ethylene-propylene (EPR). The IR spectra showed that exposure of EPR samples to gamma doses from 50 kGy to 0.6 MGy results in noticeable changes in their absorption bands, in particular an appearance of a CO band at 1720 cm^-1 and O—H band at 3450 cm^-1. The dependence of the 1720 cm^-1 band as a function of dose and dose rate is reported and discussed in terms of a simple model for the oxidation process.