2026 年 99 巻 2 号 p. 34-38
The Functional Polymer Design Laboratory at Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering in Kyoto Institute of Technology conducts researches on analyzing radical reactions in polymer materials using the spin-trapping (ST) method, an application of electron spin resonance (ESR) measurement. Radical species produced under actual usage conditions have extremely short lifetimes. However, the ST method converts them into long-lived radical species, spin adducts, enabling their observation via ESR. To date, ST-ESR has been used to investigate thermal degradation, mechanical degradation, radiation-induced modification, and radical reactions in solution for several polymer materials, including rubber. We have successfully elucidated the radical reaction pathways. This research, which systematically analyzes radical reaction pathways in polymer materials under actual usage conditions, not only possesses academic novelty but also provides valuable insights for developing causal treatments against reactions in polymer materials.
