ABSTRACT:The efficiency of a macromolecular compatibilizer for reactive blending is strongly dependent on its potentiality of producing a grafted or block copolymer during processing. For the preparation of such a compatibilizer, the grafting of two different reactive groups onto the backbones of ethylene/propylene copolymer macromolecules was performed. The ethylene/propylene (70/30) copolymer was then processed in a Brabender mixer at 190°C in the presence of a mixture of maleic anhydride and diethylmaleate with either dicumyl peroxide or di-tert-butyl peroxide as an initiator. The experiments clearly showed that the two functionalities, 2-diethyl succinate and 2-succinic anhydride, could be grafted in one step. The effect of the feed composition demonstrated that the two monomers influenced the reciprocal reactivity and the resulting product. A detailed Fourier transform infrared analysis of the grafted macromolecules was performed, and the respective amounts of ester and anhydride derived groups were detected by deconvolution of the vibrational bands in the carbonyl spectral region. The validity of the process on an industrial scale was tested by the successful performance of the reaction in a twin-screw extruder.
Summary: Continuous cold Ar plasmas were used to activate the mercerised cotton fabric towards surface‐initiated graft polymerisation of glycidyl methacrylate, 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and 1,1,2,2‐tetrahydroperfluorodecyl methacrylate (XFDMA). Single and multi‐step processes, carried out either in the plasma chamber (one‐step and two‐step processes) or ex situ after plasma treatment, were explored to optimise the grafting efficiency. The mechanical properties of the grafted cotton were substantially unaffected. Grafting with XFDMA gave good results only when the plasma activation was performed on monomer‐impregnated fabrics, as shown by gravimetry, ATR FT‐IR spectroscopy, and water and oil repellence tests. On the contrary, with HEMA better results were obtained by in situ grafting from monomer vapours.Mercerized cotton fabric before (left) and after (right) graft polymerisation of the fluorinated methacrylate XFDMA from the plasma‐activated surface.magnified imageMercerized cotton fabric before (left) and after (right) graft polymerisation of the fluorinated methacrylate XFDMA from the plasma‐activated surface.
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