Does radiation do any physical damage to materials/machines?

Of course! The radiation has a number of fairly common effects when in contact with objects. read more

Short answer I would expect radiation damage to paint / plastics not to be common on the machines dumped in fields after the chernobyl accident. The most sensitive part of the majority of the machines used would have been the plastics, to obtain changes in the properties of plastics requires large radiation doses in the range of kGy. read more

Considerations such as attenuation effectiveness, strength, resistance to damage, thermal properties, and cost efficiency can affect radiation protection in numerous ways. For example, metals are strong and resistant to radiation damage, but they undergo changes in their mechanical properties and degrade in certain ways from radiation exposure. read more

Effects on materials and devices. Radiation may affect materials and devices in deleterious ways: By causing the materials to become radioactive (mainly by neutron activation, or in presence of high-energy gamma radiation by photodisintegration). read more