Grafting of Methyl Acrylate onto PET Initiated by Diperiodatocuprate(III)

Abstract

A novel system, potassium diperiodatocuprate(III) (DPC)‐Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), was employed to initiate the graft copolymerization of methyl acrylate (MA) onto PET in alkali medium. The effects of reaction conditions, such as the initiator concentratio, ratio of MA to PET, and temperature and time, were investigated. Graft copolymers with high grafting parameters were obtained (E%>80%), which indicated that the DPC‐PET system is an efficient initiator for this graft copolymerization. The structures and the thermal stability of PET‐g‐PMA were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). A mechanism is proposed to explain the generation of radicals and the initiation of graft copolymerization. The SEM photographs show that the graft copolymer greatly improved the compatibility of the PET/PMMA blends. The moisture regain (MR) of PET‐g‐PMA is found to increase comparde with PET.