在当今全球化的世界中，成为国际供应链的一部分，是小企业蓬勃发展及其创造就业能力的关键。
马来西亚柔佛巴鲁 — 在当今全球化的世界中，成为国际供应链的一部分，是小企业蓬勃发展及其创造就业能力的关键。满足领导这些价值链的跨国公司设定的质量要求，对于小本经营的中小企业通常比较困难。马来西亚核能机构（Nuklear Malaysia）正在尽其所能提供帮助。
得益于马来西亚核能机构的支持，万德福电子束电缆公司（万德福公司）已成为马来西亚首家为马来西亚蓬勃发展的汽车行业提供电缆的中小企业。“通过使用辐射技术，我们改进了产品线并满足了汽车制造商的要求。”公司总经理Ir Chan Chang Choy说。“这使我得以发展业务和增加员工。”
由于发动机内温度较高，车辆发动机舱内使用的电缆需要耐热、阻燃，以确保它们和汽车不会着火。为了提高铜线绝缘的耐热性和阻燃性，需要将它们的聚合物交联，以形成极其紧凑的互连聚合物链网络。交联绝缘材料将电缆的工作温度例如从普通聚氯乙烯（PVC）的75摄氏度提高到交联聚氯乙烯的100摄氏度。
使用化学制品可以实现交联，但该过程需要较高的温度。另一种方法是对聚合物进行辐照，使聚合物链之间在室温下形成永久键结 — 这需要的操作成本较低，并提供更环保的工艺。
Chang Choy说，马来西亚没有中小企业拥有这种辐照技术，银行也不愿意为采购辐照设备提供贷款。“这些机器价格昂贵，银行不接受设备本身作为抵押品，因为没有二手辐照设备市场，所以如果我的公司破产，银行就无法出售设备。”
马来西亚核能机构收取少量费用，对像Chang Choy的公司这样小企业的产品提供照射服务。
“汽车业长期被公认为实现马来西亚到2020年成为工业化国家愿望的关键促进因素之一，”马来西亚核能机构辐射加工技术部经理Zulkafli Ghazali表示。“这需要国内具有电缆制造能力。”通过这种支持，马来西亚核能机构正在尽力支持政府关于加速中小企业发展、将其对经济的贡献从占国内生产总值32％提高到2020年41％的中小企业总体规划。
万德福公司每周三次将其产品运至位于该国中心以北约300公里处马来西亚核能机构的辐照设施。几天后，电缆被运回，准备好提供给汽车公司。
马来西亚核能机构正与多家中小企业合作开展不同辐射加工领域的活动 — 利用伽玛辐射和电子束等电离辐射改变材料的物理、化学或生物特性，以提高其用途和价值，或减少其对环境的影响。电离辐射被广泛用于塑料和橡胶材料改性、医疗器械和消费品灭菌、食品保存和环境污染减少。马来西亚核能机构的科学家们受益于许多原子能机构技术合作项目和协作研究项目，他们通过这些项目与世界各地的专家合作，从而完善辐射加工中使用的技术。“原子能机构帮助将全球专门知识转化为本地专门知识。”Ghazali 说。
原子能机构帮助成员国加强采用辐射技术的能力，以支持更清洁和更安全的工业过程。马来西亚核能机构参加了多个此类项目，并自2006年以来被认定为进行天然聚合物和纳米材料辐射加工的原子能机构协作中心。
本文刊登于 《国际原子能机构通报》2018年3月刊。
这款发动机舱中的红色电缆由万德福公司生产，并在马来西亚核能机构通过辐照制成具有耐热性和阻燃性。（照片来源：M. Gaspar/原子能机构）
Crosslinking can be achieved using chemicals, but the process requires higher temperatures. The alternative, the irradiation of polymers, leads to the formation of permanent bonds between the polymer chains at room temperature – which requires lower operating costs and provides a more environmentally-friendly process.
No SME in Malaysia has the technology in place to carry out such irradiation, and banks are reluctant to provide loans for the purchase of irradiation equipment, Chang Choy said. “These machines are expensive, and the banks do not accept the equipment itself as collateral, because there is no second hand market for irradiation equipment, so the banks cannot sell it if my company were to go bankrupt.”
Enter Nuklear Malaysia, which irradiates the products of small businesses like Chang Choy’s for a small fee.
“The automotive industry has long been recognised as one of the key contributing factors towards the realisation of Malaysia’s aspiration to become an industrialised nation by 2020,” said Zulkafli Ghazali, Director of Radiation Processing Technology at Nuklear Malaysia. “This requires domestic capacity in cable manufacturing.” Through this support, the agency is doing its part to support the Government’s SME Masterplan to accelerate the growth of SMEs and increase their contribution to the economy from 32% of GDP to 41% by 2020.
Wonderful Ebeam Cable ships its products to Nuklear Malaysia’s irradiation facility in the centre of the country, some 300 kilometres to the north, three times a week. After a few days, the cables are returned, ready for the car companies.
Nuklear Malaysia is working with several SMEs in different areas of radiation processing – using ionizing radiation such as gamma radiation and electron beam to change the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of materials to increase their usefulness and value or to reduce their impact on the environment. It is most widely used in the modification of plastic and rubber materials, the sterilization of medical devices and consumer items, the preservation of food and the reduction of environmental pollution. Nuklear Malaysia’s scientists have benefitted from a number of IAEA Technical Cooperation and Collaborative Research Projects, through which they were able to perfect the technologies used in radiation processing by working with experts from around the world. “The IAEA helps turn global expertise into local expertise,” Ghazali said.
The IAEA helps Member States strengthen capacities in adopting radiation-based techniques that support cleaner and safer industrial processes. Nuklear Malaysia has participated in several such projects and has been recognized, since 2006, as an IAEA Collaborating Centre for radiation processing of natural polymers and nano-materials.
The red cables in this engine compartment were produced by Wonderful Ebeal Cable and were made heat resistant and fire retardant using irradiation at Nuklear Malaysia. (Photo: M. Gaspar/IAEA)