Graft polymerisation of acrylamide onto PCL film by electron beam pre-irradiation in air or argon. Morphology in the final grafted state

Abstract

Poly(ϵ-caprolactone) has been graft polymerised to final graft yields with acrylamide (AAm) as monomer in an aqueous solution by the pre-irradiation method. The synthesis of the samples obtained, pre-irradiated in air or argon atmosphere, was controlled by dose and concentration of inhibitor, provided as Mohr's salt, in the ranges from 2.5 to 10 Mrad and from 0.005 to 0.500 wt%, respectively. Final graft yields and lateral dimensions in swollen condition ranged from 70 to 3400 wt%, and from 23×30 to 89×94 mm 2, respectively, as atmosphere during irradiation, dose and concentration of inhibitor were altered. These properties gave values in crystallinity extending from 4 to 57 wt%. Samples pre-irradiated in air and subsequently graft polymerised yielded higher values of crystallinity in the entire range of dose and concentration of inhibitor. At low concentration of inhibitor, final graft yield and lateral dimension for samples pre-irradiated in air had considerably larger values while the final graft yield and lateral dimension of samples pre-irradiated in argon had slightly larger values at high concentration of inhibitor. The initial biaxial morphology of the PCL film was continuously transformed into a uniform morphology, which was reached at a final graft yield of approximately 800 wt%.