Degradation of polytetrafluoroethylene by high energy radiation in the presence of oxygen

The degradation of polytetrafluoroethylene by accelerated electrons in oxygen has been investigated. The radicals formed by radiation result in a mixture of perfluoroalkane acid fluorides and perfluoroalkanes, having different length of the carbon chain, besides 40 to 60% COF2 and small amounts of perfluoroalkenes. By hydrolysis about 15 to 18% of the reaction products are converted to perfluoroalkane acids, two thirds of them ranging between C6 and C14. On reducing the amount of O2 the formation of COF2 decreases with increasing yield of perfluoroalkenes. (author)