Generation kinetics of color centers in irradiated poly(4-methyl-1-pentene)

Abstract

The transient absorbance of poly(4-methyl-1-pentene) (PMP) irradiated with gamma rays at elevated temperatures has been investigated. The absorbance in the ultraviolet and visible range increases with gamma ray dose. A bathochromic shift in transmission spectra emerges significantly upon irradiation. A first-order generation model is proposed to analyze the kinetics of color centers during annealing. The activation energy of the color center increases with increasing gamma ray dose. The equilibrium behavior of color centers in PMP is similar to that of vacancies in metals, and the formation energy of color centers in PMP decreases with increasing gamma ray dose. However, annealable color centers are not observed in this study. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.