Nuclear Engineering Commons^™

Radiation Tailored Polymers For Detectors, Adhesive-Coatings And Other Industrial Uses, Anna M. Earley, Alex Bakken, Rusi P. Taleyarkhan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The ever growing importance of humans to depend on renewable resources has shifted the focus of consumers, producers, and even politicians to more sustainable answers. Furthermore, pressure on the oil and natural gas industry has elevated the status of biopolymers in this regard. Polylactic acid (PLA) is unique polymer that offers unique abilities for tailored property derivation; thereby, enabling one to replace many engineered polymers and provide a sustainable solution as a nontoxic renewable resource. As a bioplastic, the tailoring of PLA under various conditions is important to the application and integration into current industry uses. After irradiating high molecular …