synopsisRates of oxygen absorption and formation of oxidation products were determined in ?-initiated oxidations of thin films of high-and lowdensity polyethylene, atactic and isotactic polypropylene, and of three ethylene-propylene copolymers. Radiation yields G for 0 2 absorbed and formation of hydroperoxides depend on dose rates and decrease sharply with increasing ethylene content of the copolymers and moderately with increasing crystallinity of any base polymer. G values for dialkyl peroxide and carbonyl formation, and therefore for chain initiation and termination, do not change much with polymer composition and crystallinity and not at all with dose rates. A few experiments with atactic polypropylene and an amorphous ethylene-propylene copolymer, initiated by di-tert-butylperoxy oxdate, indicate that 37 mole-% of ethylene in the polymer increases the efficiency of initiation and the tendency toward crosslinking.
15,000 102,7008Crystallinity by heat of fusion; a,,, = 427,200; all measured on our film by Dr. J. R.Knox.