| Abstract: | This article is the third part of a series devoted to the study of the responsibilities of both humidity and irradiation in the aging process of amine‐cured epoxy resins. The basic technique used in this study was infrared spectrometry. In previous articles, we described the hydration of two kinds of epoxy resins widely used in the nuclear industry. In the first article, we reported results concerning the hydration of unirradiated resins; in the second article, these resins were first submitted to ionizing radiation in a dry atmosphere. In this article, we describe the effects of irradiation in a humid atmosphere and compare these effects to what was observed after irradiation in a dry atmosphere, as described in the previous articles. These effects were subtle: the humidity of the ambient atmosphere apparently protected the resins from oxidative degradation because, after irradiation in a humid atmosphere, a smaller number of carboxylic groups were formed. However, the water uptake increased after irradiation in a humid atmosphere. Thus, the humidity of the ambient atmosphere at the same time favored the rupture of chains, which released steric hindrances and allowed a greater number of H2O molecules to reach hydrophilic sites in the resin. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 39: 1129–1136, 2001 |
