Radiation-induced terpolymerization of tetrafluoroethylene with propylene and isobutylene in bulk

Terpolymerization of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) with propylene (P) and isobutylene (iB) by γ radiation at temperatures of ?78 to 40°C, a dose rate of 5 × 10⁴?5 × 10⁵ rad/hr, and an iB/P molar ratio of 40/10?5/45 in the monomer mixture was carried out. Alternating copolymers of TFE and α-olefins, that is, P and iB, were formed at various monomer compositions. No crystalline structure was observed in the terpolymer obtained below an iB/P molar ratio of 15/35 in the monomer mixture but a partly crystalline order increased with the amounts of iB in terpolymer. The crystal lattice of the TFE–iB copolymer was affected by the introduction of P. The dose rate dependencies of the polymerization rate and inherent viscosity were 0.8 and ?0.2, respectively. The activation energy of polymerization was 2.4 kcal/mole, and the relative reactivity ratio of iB and P for a TFE radical chain end was estimated as 4.50 by the treatment of the free propagating mechanism.