Kinetics of radiation-induced graft copolymerization of vinylbenzyl chloride onto nylon fibers

The graft copolymerization of vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC) onto nylon-6 fiber was investigated by the pre-irradiation method using electron beam. The effects of grafting parameters, monomer concentration, absorbed dose and reaction temperature were investigated. The empirical kinetic rate equation dGo/dt=k[M]^0.86*[D]^1.06 was used to describe grafting of VBC onto nylon-6. The overall activation energy for graft copolymerization of VBC was found to be 22.6 kJ/mol. The results revealed that the grafting kinetic was controlled by the amounts of trapped radicals and monomer molecules. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) was used to provide evidence for the formation of grafted copolymers.