Surface modification of polyethylene by radiation-induced grafting for adhesive bonding. IV. Improvement in wet peel strength

Adhesive joints of hydrolyzed methyl acrylate grafts, bonded with epoxy adhesives, yield extremely high peel strength (adherend failure) in dry conditions. However, when the joints are exposed to humid environments, the peel strength rapidly decreases with exposure time and then reaches a constant value (wet peel strength). Since the locus of failure changes from the adherend to the homopolymer layer with decreasing peel strength, the decrease is due to a decrease in mechanical strength of the homopolymer layer itself, which results from its swelling by water absorption. Many attempts to reduce the swelling of the homopolymer layer or to strengthen the swollen homopolymer layer were unsuccessful except (1) priming with epoxy solutions consisting of a base epoxy resin and organic solvents which can dissolve not only epoxy resins but also hydrolyzed poly(methyl acrylate) and (2) partial etching of the homopolymer layer by photo-oxidative degradation. All the results on the improvement in wet peel strength can be explained in terms of the penetration of epoxy resins into the homopolymer layer and subsequent curing of the penetrated epoxy resin. 15 figures, 1 table