Wednesday 4 October 2023

Design Properties for Engineers: Radiation Resistance of High Performance Polymers

Hello and welcome back to another post on design properties for polymer engineers. Today we discuss the radiation resistance of high performance polymers to consider if needed in your next polymer material selection project. More plastics design data can be found in my “start here” section.

Resistance against radiation - radiation index

For evaluating plastics towards the suitability for radiation exposed applications, the so-called radiation index (Ri) can be used (IEC 60544-4). It is defined as the logarithm of base 10 of the absorbed radiation dose in Gray (J/kg) at which the flexural strength of the material is still minimum 50 % of the original value. The tests are done at room temperature and at a radiation dose of 200 kJ/kg per hour. 

In Table 1 (and Figure 1) the radiation index values of high performance/temperature polymers are shown. It can be seen that Polyimides PI and PAI have an extraordinary resistance towards radiation. Fluoropolymers do not show such a high resistance and PVDF even cross-links when exposed to high energy radiation. Additionally, Figure 2 shows the radiation index of often used commodity and engineering polymers.

Table 1: radiation resistance of high performance polymers [1].


Figure 1: radiation index of high performance polymers [1].
Figure 2: radiation index of commodity and engineering polymers [3].


Thanks for reading and #findoutaboutplastics!

Greetings

Herwig Juster

Interested to talk with me about your polymer material selection, sustainability, and part design needs - here you can contact me 

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Literature:


[1] https://www.polytron-gmbh.de/downloads-uebersicht.aspx
[2] SAECHTLING KUNSTSTOFF TASCHENBUCH, Auflage: 31. Ausgabe Baur, Brinkmann, Osswald, Rudolph, Schmachtenberg
[3] https://contentmedia.lappcdn.com/e/lapp/WpLriclteLc9qgekEAj7bQ~~

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