Radiothermoluminescence Studies of Polymer Solids
Abstract
Radiothermoluminescence (RTL) involves irradiating a sol id at low temperature (77K) with ionizing radiation and observing luminescence when heating the sample at a constant rate (10 K/min). Glow peaks are observed at characteristic temperatures which, for polymers, are diagnostic of the onset of thermally activated molecular motions. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was modified to irradiate polymer samples with medium energy (5-30 keV) electrons. This SEM-RTL device is more convenient and reliable than other techniques which utilize remote radiation sources though information is confined to the near surface regions of the sample. In particular, the oxygen-free environment of the SEM-RTL experiment permitted observation of high temperature relaxations (up to 150 C or 423 K) for the first time in a number of thermoplastics. Keywords: Polymer relaxation; Molecular motion; Electron irradiation; Charge recombination; Luminescence.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA209036
Entities
People
- Crist Buckley Jr.
Organizations
- Northwestern University