| Abstract: | It is said that the free radical caused by C-C-bond scission, homogeneous scission, is produced by mechanical degradation. In addition to free radicals, ionic species are produced due to the mechanical destruction of the polymers. Studies in our group concerning this problem are summarized. When the polymers were ground with tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) powder in a vibration glass ball mill in vacuum in the dark at 77 K, the TCNE anion radical (TCNE$ bar . $ ) was detected by electron spin resonance (ESR) method. The TCNE$ bar . $ is formed by the abstraction of electrons by TCNE from the anion produced by a heterogeneous bond scission of carboncarbon bonds in the polymer main chain. The identification of TCNE$ bar . $ was carried out by the spectral simulation on the basis of an anisotropic hyperfine tensor including a forbidden transition term. Several polymers were examined; polyethylene, polypropylene, poly(tetrafluoroethylene) and poly(vinylidene fluoride). The ratio of ionic species and free radicals is discussed. |
