On the similarity of macromolecular responses to high-energy processes: mechanical milling vs. irradiation

Recent efforts to blend and compatibilize intrinsically immiscible polymers in the solid state by high-energy methods have shown that macromolecules m ay undergo scission, crosslinking or amorphization, depending on the chemic al nature of the repeat unit, the processing temperature and the initial de gree of polymer crystallinity. Identical process-induced molecular and stru ctural modifications have been previously observed in polymers exposed to l arge doses of electron and gamma radiation, suggesting that the responses o f polymers to high-energy processes may be mechanistically similar. In this work, we explore a variety of similarities between mechanically-milled and irradiated polymers in terms of molecular characteristics, process tempera ture and polymer crystallinity, and we demonstrate that these similarities provide predictive guidance for the selection of polymers to be subjected t o solid-state processing. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.