Effect of gamma-radiation on isothermal crystallization of polypropylene

The isothermal crystallization behavior of polypropylene was analyzed before and after exposing it to 2.5 Mrads of gamma radiation. Isothermal kinetics shows an average Avrami exponent of 3 for both irradiated and the virgin polypropylene. For both the polypropylenes the relation between the In(-ln(1-v(t))) vs. In(t) was not linear, where v(t) is the extent of conversion at the time t. The effect of the isothermal crystallization temperature on the crystallization process of irradiated polypropylene was different from that of the virgin polypropylenes.