STUDIES ON RADIATION EFFECTS OF PTFE .2. RADIATION-INDUCED STRUCTURAL-CHANGES AND THE TEMPERATURE EFFECT

In this work PTFE sheets irradiated with gamma-rays at 150-degrees-C and 200-degrees-C were studied using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The main structural changes in PTFE due to radiation are the formation of CF3 and CF groups. An irradiation temperature dependence of the relative content of the three kinds of groups in irradiated PTFE was observed. The CF3 groups, especially when irradiation is carried out a lower temperatures, can defluorinate in the same manner as previosly reported for CF2 groups. The CF groups, on the other hand, are observed to increase with increasing irradiation dose and irradiation temperature; the latter was explained as due to an increase in branching structures.