THE KINETICS OF GRAFTING POLYMERIZATION OF METHYL ACRYLATE TO POLY(ACRYLAMIDE)

It was shown that the oxidative hydrolysis of the graft copolymer to f orm poly(methyl acrylate) proceeds along with grafting in the course o f the grafting polymerization of methyl acrylate onto poly(acrylamide) in an aqueous solution at pH < 7. The reaction order determined at th e initial stage for the whole polymerization process and for the graft ing per se was found to be 1.6 and 1.3, respectively, with respect to monomer, 0.5 and 0.6 with respect to poly(acrylamide), and zero with r espect to initiator. The effective activation energies for the whole p olymerization process and for the grafting per se were 51 and 45 kJ/mo l, respectively. The kinetic scheme describing the laws of the graftin g polymerization in the initial stage of the process is suggested.