## 3 Results and Discussion
### Thermal Analysis  
The thermal stability and melting temperature (\(T_{\rm m}\)) of Unirr and EB-irradiated PLC nanocomposite synthesized at room temperature was studied using TGA and DTA (Figure 5a,b). Weight loss was exhibited in three major stages. The first step in the weight loss observed at around 30-110 \({}^{\circ}\)C corresponds to the loss in moisture associated with the host polymer (PANI), and it usually shows a high loss of moisture because of its high hydroscopic nature [33]. The second step in the weight loss, observed in the range of 110-375 \({}^{\circ}\)C, is attributed to the start of the degradation step (fast decomposition zone) by losing the carboxylic and NH\({}^{+}\) groups of the host polymer. This may be due to dehydration and decomposition of the chemical structure, including the content of dopants from the polymer chain. In the third stage, the degradation of the skeletal polymer chain structure and decomposition of the polymer backbone (residual decomposition zone) occurred at around 375-650 \({}^{\circ}\)C, during which the maximum weight loss (>90%) was observed [34]. Corresponding to decomposition temperatures of about 653, 440, 443, and 430 \({}^{\circ}\)C for the unirradiated at 40, 80, and 120 kGy EB doses, respectively, as shown in Figure 5b. This is mainly because of the breaking of polymer chains (i.e., chain scission) with an increase in the EB irradiation dose. The weight loss curves in the TGA leave a remarkable residue at higher temperatures. The residual temperature increased to 677, 686, 688, and 692 \({}^{\circ}\)C, as shown in Figure 5a (inset), with respect to the increased EB irradiation doses. This suggests changes in the molecular weight and structure as a result of free radicals formed via oxidative degradation, as reported in [35]. This may also be attributed to the cross-linking process at high irradiation doses, confirming the increased thermal stability with the EB dose. The observed results show that the PLC nanocomposite materials are highly stable at increased irradiation doses and can be used for various high-temperature applications. Figure 6 displays the DCS curves for the PLC nanocomposites melting temperatures at various EB dosages. The melting temperature (\(T_{\rm m}\)) of the Unirr composite is indicated by the endothermic peak at 157 \({}^{\circ}\)C, which decreased to 138 \({}^{\circ}\)C after a dose of 120 kGy EB irradiation. The area beneath the melting point peak decreased with the dosage, indicating a reduction in crystallinity levels. From the results, it can be noticed that a reduction in the melting temperature occurred with the EB dose. It is clear that the disordered state (amorphous) of the composite increased, and the molecular weight of the samples was reduced because of the chain scission process [36]. The chain scission process leads to the breaking off of the long polymer chains into smaller chain segments. This means that the destruction of the crystalline phase, which may be attributed to the formation of defects, thus confirms the polymer chain's degradation and reveals an increase in the amorphicity after irradiation [35]. These observations correlate with the XRD results. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Sample** & **20** & **d** & **B** & **\(\epsilon\)** & **R** & **D** & **\% \(\chi\)** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{PLC-Unirr} & 25.06 & 3.550 & 4.8185 & 1.17 & 12.10 & 0.23 & 79.55 \\ \cline{2-7}  & 20.25 & 4.379 & 5.6662 & 1.34 & 7.35 & 0.24 & 76.49 \\ \cline{2-7}  & 15.07 & 5.871 & 5.6662 & 1.40 & 5.48 & 0.25 & 73.76 \\ \cline{2-7}  & 9.14 & 9.666 & 3.0989 & 0.77 & 4.44 & 0.44 & 59.19 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{PLC-120 kGy} & 25.10 & 3.544 & 7.7873 & 1.90 & 11.27 & 0.18 & 59.23 \\ \cline{2-7}  & 19.99 & 4.436 & 6.9925 & 1.72 & 6.96 & 0.20 & 56.83 \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{2-7}  & 15.90 & 5.567 & 6.9925 & 1.73 & 5.55 & 0.21 & 48.77 \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{2-7}  & 9.81 & 9.006 & 5.8267 & 1.45 & 4.44 & 0.23 & 32.76 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}