STUDY OF RADIATION-INDUCED GRAFT-COPOLYMERIZATION OF VINYL-ACETATE ONTO ETHYLENE-CO-PROPYLENE RUBBER

The radiation-induced graft copolymerization of vinyl acetate (VAc) on to ethylene-co-propylene rubber (EPR) has been studied in methanol wit h radiation of cobalt-60. The effects of irradiation dose, dose rate, concentration of monomer, Cu++ concentration, and temperature on the d egree of grafting were investigated. The dependence of the initial gra fting rate on dose rate, monome, and Cu++ concentration were found to be 1.0, 1.95, and 0.5 order, respectively. The apparent activation ene rgy was calculated to be 49 kJ/mol. Mechanical properties of the graft ed polymer were investigated as a function of the grafting percentage. The tensile strength increases and elongation of break decreases with the increase of the degree of grafting in the region of low grafting percentage (congruent to 10%). (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.