A worldwide view of radiation processing

Over the past years the sales of radiation processed products have been expanding steadily at a rate of approximately 25 per cent per annum chiefly in those areas where radiation processing proved successful as an established technology. Thus, cross-linking, sterilization and curing of coatings account for a substantial part of the commercial applications of radiation. Other promising areas such as radiation induced polymerization and grafting did not yet result in any large scale production in spite of intense research efforts devoted to these fields. The purpose of this presentation is to examine some of the specific features of radiation processes of commercial interest and to try to understand in each case the reason for their success or for the delay in their development. (author)