effectofelectronradiationdamageonBIO-POLYMERS.docVIP

Effects of electron radiation damage on biodegradable polymers Guangya Wang student ID: 1376791 Brief introduction Radiation damage limits the usefulness of TEM data regardless of the initial quality of the specimen. It is the radiation damage not the instrumental resolving ability that acts as the main restricting element in getting images of biomaterials, especially biodegradable polymers, with high resolution [1].Actually, most biodegradable polymers holds a relatively low critical value for tolerating exposure to electron beam (no more than 100-500 e-/nm2) [1,2]. Electron exposures as low as 10 e-/nm2 can even still significantly affect the highest resolution of the image obtained from biodegradable polymers specimens [1,2]. Specially, the structural effects caused by the electron beam or radiation include: mass loss, electronic and vibrational spectra change and alternation of electron diffraction pattern of the irradiated area [2]. Primary effect of electron radiation damage on biodegradable polymers Basically, biodegradable polymers specimen damage should be mainly ascribed to ionization generated by the inelastic interaction of electrons with orbital electrons of the specimens [2]. And this, in turn, causes rearrangement of chemical bonds, formation of free-radicals and diffusion of the fragments. Although, elastic interaction can bring about image contrast but no serious damage, inelastic interactions can produce permanent changes to biodegradable polymers [1,3]. Chemical and physical changes Among all the chemical and physical effects, ionizing makes the most contribution to the damage of biodegradable polymers specimen. Ionizing radiation results in various molecular changes in polymers. Increasing irradiation dose increases the number of C=C bonds and reduce the number of side groups, and thus, cause a higher carbon content, and finally make the pure product: carbon. Specially, amino acids appear to be most sensitive at the α-carbon where a fre