RADIOISOTOPE AND RADIATION APPLICATIONS. Quarterly Progress Report

The study of the mechanism of free-radical formation and decay in polymeric materials was continued and extended to include an investigation of the potential application of this information to the development of novel graft copolymers. The study of postirradiation grafting techniques employing both peroxide initiation and direct grafting was continued. In addition, the effect of molecular weight on site formation was further investigated. Licenses and license applications for approximately 300 by-product material licenses were reviewed to obtain information on environmental conditions of source usage. The feasibility of testing sealed-source response to normal environments by accelerated test procedures was studied. Indications are that the approach will probably not be applicable to either vibration or abrasion stresses but may be for corrosion stresses. (auth