Temperature stability of injection moulded low-density polyethylene parts modified by accelerated electrons

Low-density polyethylene is one of the most widely used polymer materials, due to its easy workability and its properties, in particular, it excels in chemical resistance. The reason why it is often not used in technical applications is its limited mechanical properties and low temperature stability. One of the ways to improve these properties (especially temperature stability) is a physical modification by radiation cross-linking (accelerated electrons). The properties of already finished injection moulded products can be changed depending on the radiation dose. This is confirmed by the results of measurements of temperature stability and mechanical properties. With increasing radiation dose (highest used radiation dose 198 kGy), the temperature stability of low-density polyethylene increases significantly, but the tensile properties improve only slightly.