Preparation and characterization of grafter membranes obtained by gamma irradiation

Complete text of publication follows. A study has been made for the preparation of ionic membranes by radiation induced graft copolymerization of methacrylic acid onto different polymeric substrates; low and high density polyethylene and polypropylene films. The influence of preparation conditions such as diluent, inhibitor concentration, exposure dose and monomer concentration, on the grafting yield and homogeneity of grafting was investigated. To elucidate the possibility of practical use of such prepared ionic membranes, some characteristic properties were also studied. Changes in thermal parameters of these grafted materials were determined by differential scanning, calorimeter (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). In general, it was found that the grafted materials possessed good thermal stability if compared to the original polymeric substrates. Meanwhile, such thermal stability are dependent on the degree of grafting and type of polymer substrate used. The grafted copolymers showed also good swelling proporties which further improved by chemical conversion of carboxylic acid groups of graft chains. The prepared graft copolymers showed great promise in practical use as ion exchange membranes