Radiation graft post-polymerization of sodium styrene sulfonate onto polyethylene

Abstract

Post-irradiation grafting of sodium styrene sulfonate (SSS) in the presence of acrylic acid (AA) has been investigated on polyethylene (PE) pre-exposed to gamma radiation at room temperature in the air. Special attention was paid to the effect of low molecular weight salt additives on the kinetics of graft copolymerization of SSS and AA. The presence of SSS links in the grafted PE copolymers was detected by the methods of UV and FTIR spectroscopy. Based on the FITR spectroscopy and element analysis data, a mechanism was proposed for graft copolymerization of SSS and AA onto PE. The mechanical properties of the graft copolymers were studied. It was established that PE copolymers grafted with sulfonic acid and carboxyl groups have higher strength characteristics (16.3 MPa) compared to the samples containing only carboxyl groups (11 MPa).

Radiation-Induced Asymmetric Grafting of Different Monomers into Base Films to Prepare Novel Bipolar Membranes

“…To prepare CEMs, three routes are mainly used: (i) grafting of sodium p -styrenesulfonate (SSS), (ii) grafting of ethyl p -styrenesulfonate (EtSS) and subsequent hydrolysis of EtSS units, and (iii) grafting of styrene and subsequent sulfonation of styrene units. Regarding (i), acrylic acid (AA) is sometimes co-grafted because it accelerates the SSS grafting [ 21 ]. For the preparation of AEMs, the most well-known way is the grafting of chloromethylstyrene (CMS) and subsequent quaternization of CMS units.…”