{"id":351,"date":"2010-03-10T00:04:20","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T00:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/?p=351"},"modified":"2023-07-19T11:58:12","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T16:58:12","slug":"particle-accelerators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coleparmer.com\/blog\/particle-accelerators\/","title":{"rendered":"Particle accelerators turn plastic into shrink wrap"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Particle accelerators tie molecules of plastic together<\/h2>\n<p>If you bought a turkey this Thanksgiving, you have particle accelerators to thank for its freshness. For decades now the food industry has used particle accelerators to produce the sturdy, heat-shrinkable film that turkeys come wrapped in. Shrink wrap is also used in many other industries such as manufacturing, pharmaceutical, biopharma, and anywhere a product needs to be secured or protected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParticle accelerators tie the molecules of plastic together and make the film tougher mechanically. It doesn\u2019t crack or tear,\u201d says Marshall Cleland, a technical advisor at IBA Industrial, an international company that has been manufacturing particle accelerators for commercial use since 1988.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding how accelerators give cross-linked shrink film its unique properties requires a refresher course in chemistry.<\/p>\n<p>Heat-shrinkable film\u2014commonly known as shrink wrap\u2014is made of polyethylene plastic. The plastic molecules, called polymers, are long chains of carbon atoms strung together like pearls. Each carbon atom also connects with two hydrogen atoms, leaving it no room to bond with anything else.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fully saturated carbon had its full meal, including dessert, and becomes chemically inert,\u201d Cleland says. \u201cIf you heat it to the boiling point of water, it will turn into a syrupy mess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, when hit with a beam of electrons from a particle accelerator, the plastic\u2019s polymer strings become chemically active.<\/p>\n<p>Read the <a href=\"\/tech-article\/accelerator-applications\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">entire article<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/c\/material-testing-and-physical-testing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><br>\nSee products for material testing and physical testing<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Related Articles<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"\/blog\/2012\/10\/25\/for-national-chemistry-week-universities-leverage-the-power-of-compact-nmr-spectroscopy-to-teach-chemistry-and-applied-sciences-students\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">For National Chemistry Week: Universities Leverage the Power of Compact NMR Spectroscopy to Teach Chemistry and Applied Sciences Students<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Particle accelerators tie molecules of plastic together If you bought a turkey this Thanksgiving, you have particle accelerators to thank for its freshness. For decades now the food industry has used particle accelerators to produce&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":16629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cool-tools","category-food-beverage"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Particle Accelerators Turn Plastic Into Shrink Wrap<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The food industry has used particle accelerators to produce the sturdy, heat-shrinkable film that turkeys come wrapped in. 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