Dose-dependent modification in makrofol-N and polyimide by proton irradiation

A systematic investigation of proton-irradiated polycarbonate (malcrofol-N (MEN)) and polyimide (PI) has been carried out using some spectroscopic and thermal techniques. Four different doses (10, 30, 60, and 80 kGy) of 62 MeV protons were used in the present study to check the dose-dependent behaviour of the irradiated polymers. No decrease in intensity of the absorbance bands (obtained from FT-IR spectra) of the irradiated MFN denoted the degradation of these polymers. Thermal analysis further corroborated the fact that chain-scission is the dominant phenomena in irradiated MFN samples resulting in the reduction of its thermal stability by about 19%, while on the other hand, there was a 20% increase in the thermal stability of PI due to proton irradiation, which an presumably be due to the cross-linking of some of the degraded molecules by irradiation. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.