EPR study of the formation of radicals in PP with antioxidants irradiated with gamma rays

The behavior of different compounds of polypropylene (PP) with stabilizers such as buthyl-hydroxy-toluene (BHT), Chimassorb 944 (Hats) (CHIM), and a copolymer of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) was studied using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). A characteristic spectra for pure PP irradiated in air was obtained for all the samples just after being irradiated [M. Dole, The Radiation Chemistry of Macromolecules, Vol. 2, Academic Press, 1973]. A change in the lineshape of the spectra from a pure PP's EPR signal to that of nitroxyl radical as a function of time was observed. The total free radical concentration (TFRC) decayed until approximately 800 h in the PP-HALS and until around 2000 h in all other cases, when the TFRC began to increase in all the cases, except in that of PP-BHT. In this last case, the EPR signal was not detectable after 4000 h. The BHT and the SBS diluted the free radical concentrations, being them smaller when they are present. The behavior observed in all the samples is consistent with the formation of nitroxyl radicals by gamma rays. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.