The effect of neutron irradiation on glass-transition temperature and rigidity of PMMA

Abstract

Present work includes a study of the effect of neutron irradiation on glass-transition temperature, Tg and rigidity, G of PMMA [Poly (methyl methacrylate)] by using the variation of thermal conductivity with Temperature T. The thermal conductivity measured before and after irradiation of specimens by neutrons, for different periods of time, in variation with temperature. The specimens shape was a disc of 24 mm in diameter and 6 mm in thickness. The behavior of thermal conductivity with temperature and also with period of irradiation was studied. The dependence of rigidity on irradiation was also studied by calculating the rigidity of the specimens in variation with temperature. The results revealed that the conductivity depends greatly on irradiation which has maximum value at 18 days of irradiation. The variation of rigidity with irradiation follows the same behavior of Tg with irradiation.

Keywords

• Polymers
• Thermal properties
• Neutron irradiation
• Thermal conductivity
• Glass-transition temperature
• Rigidity