Radiochemical ageing of poly(ether ether ketone)

Thin (60 μm) and thick (250 μm) samples of poly(ether ether ketone) were subjected to radiochemical ageing at 24 kGy h⁻¹ dose rate for doses up to 30.7 MGy at 60 °C in air. FTIR spectrophotometry (hydroxyl and carbonyl build-up), ATR microscopy (oxidation profiles), ammonia gaseous treatment (determination of carbonyl nature), density, DSC (glass transition temperature, cold crystallization and melting point changes), and gel content measurements (crosslinking) were conducted for examination of polymer degradation. Thin samples were shown to undergo principally chain scission process whereas thick ones undergo mainly crosslinking. This difference can be attributed to the kinetic control of oxidation by oxygen diffusion. A mechanistic scheme was proposed from radiochemical yields estimations.