Effect of gamma irradiation on the thermal and mechanical behaviour of polypropylene and polyethylene blends

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of radiation over polypropylene and polyethylene blends samples with different weight ratios. 10, 30, 50, 70, and 100 kGy doses of radiation were applied from the 60Co source on the polymer blends obtained by mixing polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (LDPE) samples with different molecular weights in different ratios by weight. Melting flow rates (MFI), hardness, tensile strength at yield, tensile strength at break, elongation at break, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TG) of the samples were examined. When melting flow index of the samples was examined, it was determined that there was a significant increase in the speed of melting flow in connection with increasing radiation doses. When the mechanical analyses of the samples were examined, there was a significant decrease in tensile strength at yield, tensile strength at break, and elongation at break values. Particularly, as the samples with 100 kGy dose had deformation, there was no reading for these values. When DSC analysis of the samples was examined, depending on the increasing radiation dose, there was a decrease in melting temperature Tm, crystallization temperature Tc, melting enthalpy ?Hf, crystallization enthalpy ?Hc and the rate of crystallization Xc values. It was observed that there was a mass loss against heat in TG analysis of samples. © 2022