Surface modification of polymers. II. Grafting with glycidyl acrylates and the reactions of the grafted surfaces with amines

The surface of low density polyethylene has been grafted with glycidyl acrylate and glycidyl methacrylate by photoinitiation. ESCA measurements on the grafted surface showed a 72% coverage for glycidyl acrylate and 52% for glycidyl methacrylate after 10 min of grafting with UV irradiation. ATR–IR showed a 10 times more extensive grafting for glycidyl acrylate than for glycidyl methacrylate after 10 min of grafting, indicating reaction to deeper layers. Acetone and ethanol were used as solvents: acetone yielded slightly more grafting at the surface. The grafted surfaces were reacted with 2 M solutions of aniline and propylamine in ethanol. After 4 h reaction at 60°C, with aniline 52% of the epoxy groups while for propylamine 96% of the groups were consumed, as measured with ATR–IR.