Abstract
When Nylon 66 was irradiated by an optimum dose of e-beam in presence of polyurethane as impact modifier in combination with triallyl isocyanurate as cross-linker, a superior performance was observed for the irradiated nylon 66. Significant improvement of properties, such as hardness, tensile strength, flexural modulus and impact strength was obtained on radiation processing of nylon 66 by e-beam. More interestingly, percent water absorption of such irradiated nylon 66 was reduced substantially. Improvement of mechanical properties and reduction of water absorption of irradiated nylon 66 were due to the cross-linking of the polymer system. Increase of cross-linking with dose of e-beam was verified by the increased gel content at higher doses. Irradiated nylon 66 showed better dimensional stability than those achieved with pristine nylon 66. The increase in dimensional stability may be attributed to reduction in crystallinity with increasing dose of e-beam as revealed by DSC studies.