Kinetics of hardness evolution during annealing of gamma-irradiated polycarbonate

This study focuses on the evolution in microhardness values that accompany isothermal annealing in gamma-irradiated polycarbonate (PC). Hardness increases with increasing annealing time, temperature, and gamma radiation dose. A model composed of a mixture of first and zero order structure relaxation is proposed to interpret the hardness data. The rate constant data fit the Arrhenius equation, and the corresponding activation energy decreases with increasing dose. The extent of structural relaxation that controls the hardness in post-annealed PC increases with increasing annealing temperature and dose. The model demonstrates that hardness evolution in PC is an endothermic process. By contrast, when the model is applied to irradiated poly(methyl methacrylate) and hydroxyethyl methacrylate copolymer, hardness evolution is an exothermic process. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4768277]