Suppliers of plastics technologies, including those that provide formed product and raw materials, are continually striving to develop cost effective approaches to differentiating their products. Staying ahead of the competition requires plastics producers to find techniques that will make their materials more durable, stronger, more heat resistant, more radiation resistant, or easier to coat.
High-energy treatment of polymers has proven to be a viable technique for enhancing the properties of many polymers, including crosslinking, grafting, or surface modification. Electron beam processing has shown to be as an efficient way to deliver the energy levels needed to accomplish these desired effects. Large MeV electron beam systems are often a key processing step in the manufacture of products such as tires, wire and cable, pipes, heat shrinkable products, films, fibers and bulk polymers. However, MeV electron beam applications have been limited due to the large size, high expense and complexity of the systems. Additionally, most of these systems are located at offsite facilities, which require shipping the product to for treatment.
While high-voltage electron beams can be a solution to applications requiring deep penetration, there are many applications in which low voltage treatment is a viable, cost-effective approach. The ability to integrate low voltage electron beam processing in-line opens up new possibilities for plastics manufacturers.