Emulsion Grafting of Glycidyl Methacrylate onto Plasma-treated Polypropylene Surface

Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) was used to introduce epoxy groups on the surface of polypropylene (PP) plate, used as a substrate, through plasma-induced graft copolymerization. Emulsion polymerization was applied for graft copolymerization of GMA and was compared with conventional solution polymerization to confirm its effect. Plasma treatment conditions under one atmospheric pressure were fixed as follows; the RF power of 200 W, the treatment time of 30 sec, the Ar gas flow rate of 6 LPM, and the exposure time of treated PP samples in air of 5 min. For graft-copolymerization, GMA concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time was optimized to maximize the grafting degree of GMA. The maximum grafting degree of GMA was obtained at the condition of 12%-GMA concentration, reaction temperature, and 5 hr-reaction time. Analysis results supported that the emulsion polymerization was more effective than the solution polymerization for grafting more GMAs on the surface of PP plate under the same reaction conditions.