lauren@vortex.COM (Lauren Weinstein) (11/12/90)
Greetings. Somewhere along the way, I seem to recall hearing that heat shrink tubing was made of an irradiated rubber material. Does anyone out there know if this is true? If so, what is the material irradiated with? I would assume it would have to be a gamma source, otherwise there would be residual radioactivity, which I assume is not present with heat shrink tubing?! Any reponses by mail please--I'll summarize info. Thanks. --Lauren--
mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) (11/13/90)
Correct, plastic tubing is irradiated to induce cross linking, then stretched. When heated, the crosslinks cause the material to pull back to its original shape. The radiation comes from electron beam tubes, essentially large X-ray machines.