Functionalization of polypropylene by radiation grafting of acryloyl chloride and sterification with disperse red

Complete text of publication follows. A practical method for obtaining films containing functional groups on the surface, is the gamma ray-induced grafting of acryloyl or methacryloyl chloride on the films, followed by the reaction of hydroxy or amino groups of the functional compounds. Direct grafting of acrylates or methacrylates with bulky functional groups onto films of polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonate, etc, is often encounter difficulty in polymerization of bulky monomers, loss due to homopolymerization, etc. In this work, polypropylene (PP) films were irradiated by gamma rays of Co-60 (Gamma Beam 651 PT source) and grafted with acryloyl chloride; grafting was carried out by direct and phase vapor direct method, at a dose rate of 5.1 kGy/h, different acryloyl concentration on toluene, and doses from 1 to 5 kGy, at room temperature. The unreacted acryloyl chloride and its homopolymer were removed by chloroform extraction. The grafted poly(acryloyl chloride) was then reacted with Disperse Red 1,2-[4-(4-nitrophenylazo)-N-ethylphenylamino] ethanol. The grafted films were characterized by NMR, FTIR-ATR, Visible Spectroscopy, DSC, X-ray diffractometry, SEM, AFM, NMR of solids and Elemental Analysis. Scanning electron micrographs of fractured surfaces indicated that grafting took place not only on the surface of PP film, but the grafted polymer penetrated into the PP films. Thermochromic properties of the films were observed by FTIR and UV-VIS spectrophotometers at different temperatures. AFM showed depth profiles and average rough for samples with different percentage of graft