The grafting of acrylamide onto poly(?-caprolactone) and poly(1,5-dioxepan-2-one) using electron beam preirradiation. I. Influence of dose and Mohr's salt for the grafting onto poly(?-caprolactone)

Poly(ε-caprolactone) films (TONE® 787) were irradiated by electron beam in air prior to grafting in aqueous solutions of acrylamide. The grafting kinetics and molecular weight of the grafted poly(acrylamide) chains were studied with irradiation doses between 2.5 and 20 Mrad and in the Mohr's salt concentration range of 0.0025–1 wt %. The grafting rate and yield were strongly dependent on the Mohr's salt concentration. By molecular weight analysis of grafted poly(acrylamide) chains, it was shown that the molecular weight is approximately proportional to the mass of the grafted PAAm.