Radiation resistance of track etched membranes

Track etched membranes (TEMs) obtained by irradiation of polymer films with heavy ions and subsequent etching of latent tracks can be applied in many fields and among others in biomedicine as well. It is important to know rad iation resistance of TEMs because of Aide use of radiation sterilization in the case of biomedical devices. Tensile properties of TEMs made of PET and PC films with the thickness of 1 0 mum after electron irradiation at different doses are known from literatu re. Nowadays TEMs are being manufactured from thicker (20 mum) PET and PC f ilms as well as polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) films are proposed for TEMs. It seems to be important to get data about radiation resistance of new kin ds of TEMs. Samples of polymer films made of PET and PEN with the thickness of 19-25 mu m and TEMs made of such materials have been irradiated using 10 MeV electro n beam with doses up to 990 kGy. Tensile properties and SEM photographs of the samples after irradiation are given in the paper. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd. All rights reserved.