Ultraviolet-initiated photografting of glycidyl methacrylate onto styrene-butadiene rubber

Abstract

Photografting reaction onto styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR) as a function of monomer concentration, grafting method, irradiation time, and the carbon black content has been studied using ultraviolet (UV). Glycidyl methacrylate and benzophenone are used as monomer and initiator, respectively. The occurrence of graft reaction onto SBR surface is identified by infrared attenuated total reflection (IR-ATR) analysis. The degree of monomer graft increases with monomer concentration and tends to level off at high monomer concentration (>8.3M/L). Graft ratio also increases with UV irradiation time. Carbon black content is found as one of important factors that determine the monomer graft efficiency. The amount of monomer graft onto SBR decreases with increasing carbon black content and it is attributed to the reduction of irradiation absorbance due to the presence of carbon black. The occurrence of reaction between glycidyl methacrylate grafted SBR and nylon-6 via melt phase reaction is also identified using IR-ATR analysis. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 73: 1733–1739, 1999