The effect of radiation on the melt index of polyethylene

Five different types of polyethylene were irradiated in air and their melt indices determined as a function of the radiation dose. A resonant transformer electron beam generator was the source of radiation, and cellophane dye dosimetry was used to determine the radiation dose. The melt index was found to change uniformly with dose, and a single empirical equation was derived which describes the curves for all five types of polyethylene. By using the melt index as a measure of crosslinking, it was shown that the effect of radiation intensity on crosslinking is negligible.