Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 June 2011
Immobilization devices in radiotherapy are made of a soft plastic easy to mould when immersed in hot water. Same item is usually used for 6 patients (according to protocol), but at Hospital Sao Jose (HSJ) they have been showing some deformation during the re-utilization process. The latter is the reason for this research where devices were treated with 6 thermal conditions, 6 irradiation procedures and the joint effect of both treatments. DSC, TGA and WAXD indicated devices are made of polycaprolactone (PCL), but no signs of degradation, except a slight variation in crystalinity; however, mechanical properties by means of Young’s modulus steadily increase its values through number of treatments up to a 20%. Activation energy (Ea) obtained by multi-ramps of TGA-Arrhenius evaluated for the most treated samples (6th treatment) indicates that temperature facilitates degradation while irradiation and joint treatments enhance the stability of PCL, apparently by crosslinking.