ABSTRACT
Although there is only one process currently using radiation in a successful textile operation, there has been a great deal of promising and instructive research. Radiation is preferred for its many advantages, such as low cost, very high temperature-insensitive initiation rates, room-temperature initiation, and long shelf-life of the catalyst-free materials. Microwave and infrared radiation can be used to induce thermal reactions in textile materials by simple heating and are of considerable use in drying. The chapter is concerned with chemical changes caused by radiation-induced bond dissociation. Ultraviolet radiation is used in the great majority of commercial applications involving thin coatings due to its high efficiency of absorption and to the relatively low capital cost for equipment capable of generating high-intensity radiation. In high-speed radiation processing, there are a number of important differences in these steps that set it apart from the classical polymerization scheme.
