Solid‐ and liquid‐states polymerization of tetrafluoroethylene induced by ionizing radiation

Solid‐state polymerization of tetrafluoroethylene was carried out by initiating with γ‐rays from Co 60 and electrons from a Van de Graaff generator. Apparent activation energy of the polymerization in the solid state was about 0.3 kcal./mole. The polytetrafluoroethylene which was obtained both in liquid‐ and solid‐state polymerizations was examined by the infrared and x‐ray diffraction methods. From these experiments it was clearly demonstrated that the crystalline structure is quite different between both polymers. It indicates that the polymerization in the solid state is strongly influenced by the crystal lattice of the monomers.