Novel additives for enhancing radiation grafting to polyolefins and the use of these copolymers as ion exchange resins

The use of mineral acid and polyfunctional monomers as additives ( approx.1%) for the enhancement in radiation grafting of monomers such as styrene in solvent methanol to polyolefins is discussed. The mechanism for the increase in grafting yield in the presence of each type additive is shown to be different. When the two type additives are included in the grafting solution, a synergistic effect is observed in the enhancement. The effect of functionality of polyfunctional monomer in the grafting enhancement is examined using divinylbenzene (DVB) and trimethylolpropane triacrylate as representative monomer additives. Sulphonation of the graft copolymer is shown to produce useful ion exchange resins. (author)