Effects of chemical and gamma irradiation environments on the mechanical properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is currently being used as a high-integrity container material for low-level wastes. Potential failure/degration modes must be determined for realistic environmental conditions. These include consideration of mechanical stress, gaseous/liquid environments within and external to the container, and the gamma radiation field. A combination of simple inexpensive tests (stressed U-bend samples) and more sophisticated longer-term uniaxial creep tests are being used to define the ranges of conditions for which mechanical failure/degradation is important. Test environments include Igepal CO-630, turbine oil and liquid scintillation fluid as well as air and deionized water, the control environments. Igepal CO-630 is a surfactant specified in standard ASTM tests for environmental stress cracking. Turbine oil is a possible constituent of low-level waste generated at reactor power plants, and is used in the current tests because of its known detrimental behavior to many types of plastic. Liquid scintillation fluids are being evaluated here because they are representative of the class of organiz solvents containing toluene and xylene. As such they will give valuable insights regarding a type of potential failure or degradation mode for HDPE. The effect of gamma irradiation on crack initiation and propagation is also being studied. A description of the work and results are presented. 8 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs