Radiation-induced graft copolymerization of 2-vinylpyridine and styrene onto isotactic polypropylene fiber

Abstract

Isotactic polypropylene fiber (IPP) was graft-copolymerized using 2-vinyl pyridine (2-VP) and styrene (sty) as the monomers by the mutual irradiation method in air. The percentage of grafting was determined as a function of various reaction parameters and it was found that the maximum grafting of 2-VP (114%) and sty (76%) was obtained at an optimum dose of 1.08 ϫ 10 4 and 0.64 ϫ 10 4 Gy using 1.8 ϫ 10 Ϫ2 mol of 2-VP and 4.3 ϫ 10 Ϫ2 mol of sty, respectively. The graft copolymers were characterized by differential scanning calorimetric analysis and isolation of the grafted chains from the grafted iPP samples.