Radiation effects in polymers at high pressure

It has been established that high pressure increases the reaction rate of alkyl macroradicals in polyethylene due to the decrease of the height and narrowing of the reaction potential barrier. The enhancement of free valence migration at high pressure changes the accumulation rate for the main products of polyethylene radiolysis - the radiation yield of the crosslinking increases about 10 times, the yield of vinylidene groups decay increases, too. High pressure crosslinking of polyethylene proceeds by the chain mechanism. (author)