On the Viscosity of Irradiated Polymers, II

The intrinsic viscosity of a polymeric substance crosslinked as well as degraded by irradiation with high-energy radiations is discussed for various types of initial molecular size distributions. The intrinsic viscosity as a function of radiation dose is shown to behave in a great variety of ways depending on the relative importance of crosslinking and degradation, and in particular, on the shape of the initial distribution. The effect of endlinking instead of crosslinking is also examined.