Structure of irradiated polymer in semi dilute regime concentration: roles of dose values

The aim of this paper is to determine the structure of a post irradiated polymer aqueous solution in semi-dilute regime concentration. The neutral polymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone of molar mass M_w = 1.300.000 g/mol was treated by γ-irradiation with different doses ranged from 0.8 to 50 kGy. The post irradiated polymer, PVP*, is dissolved in water and viscosity measurements are performed at 25 °C. The Mark–Houwink–Sakurada and the Flory exponents, are deduced and solvent qualities are determined. An extension of the blob model theory is reported and correspondent structural parameters are defined. For all the used doses the structure of the solution are determined and discussed.

The relative variation of the correlation length,τ [ξ ∗ (D)], versus the received dose by the polymer.