Can polypropylene be gamma irradiated?

The sterilization of polypropylene by Gamma Radiation is becoming one of the more common methods, and is often the choice for articles manufactured from polypropylene.

What does gamma radiation do to plastic?

Gamma rays are a penetrating form of radiation which easily pass through plastics. They break the covalent bonds of DNA killing bacteria and other microbes exposed to the radiation. Ionizing rays of gamma radiation can cause following changes in polymers: Discolor or yellowing effect.

Can gamma ray damage a material?

Gamma rays have so much penetrating power that several inches of a dense material like lead, or even a few feet of concrete may be required to stop them. Gamma rays can pass completely through the human body; as they pass through, they can cause ionizations that damage tissue and DNA.

What material can block gamma rays?

There are three types of radiation: alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays. Beta particles can be blocked by a sheet of aluminum, but gamma rays require several inches of lead, concrete or steel to be stopped.

Can you irradiate polypropylene?

If you irradiate polypropylene with alpha particles under certain atmospheric conditions it has been determined that an increase in its surface free energy results in greater wettability to certain liquids, such as water, formamide and diiodomethane.

Can PVC be gamma irradiated?

The results revealed that the gamma irradiation affected considerably the PVC plasticized properties at 50 KGy. This degradation is due to the chain scission, which caused a reduction in the average molecular mass and cross-linking rate on one hand.

Which is the best shielding material for gamma radiation?

Lead
Lead is one of the radiation shielding materials that commonly used for X-rays and gamma radiation because it has high density, high atomic number, and high linear and mass attenuation coefficients [1], [2], [3], [4].

Does plastic absorb radiation?

Plastic (one centimeter thick) can block alpha and high-energy beta radiation.

Can gamma pass through paper?

Alpha particles can’t go through paper, but beta particles and gamma rays can.

Does plastic stop radiation?

Does radiation melt plastic?

In general, most polymers can tolerate radiation quite well, with very low doses in the range of 10 to 100 Gy (1 krad to 10 krad) causing little to no degradation in mechanical properties and/or performance.