CROSS-LINKING OF RECYCLED POLYETHYLENE BY GAMMA AND ELECTRON-BEAM IRRADIATION

Recycling of polymeric materials is usually accompanied by degradation and deleterious properties. Irradiation crosslinking of recycling low density polyethylene by electron beam and gamma rays could be the sol ution to improve their properties. This paper presents a comparison on the effects of gamma and electron irradiation on virgin and recycled polyethylene. Their mechanical, thermal and chemical properties were a nalyzed. VPE samples shown higher crosslinking percentages than RPE sa mples in all range of doses studied, unirradiated RPE samples had high er values on their tensile properties than VPE. Percentage crystallini ty was similar in all range of doses studied.