Surface modification of polymers. III. Grafting of stabilizers onto polymer films

Polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene have been grafted with glycidyl acrylate and glycidyl methacrylate. After 5 min of grafting with UV irradiation, polystyrene was extensively grafted to 91% coverage of glycidyl acrylate according to ESCA, while polypropylene was grafted to only 50% coverage. With glycidyl acrylate the grafting depth is estimated to be 0.1 μm for PP and 0.23 μm for PS. Glycidyl methacrylate is grafted in a thinner layer than glycidyl acrylate. The stabilizers 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone, phenyl 4-aminosalicylate, and 4-amino-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine were attached to LDPE surfaces containing grafted glycidyl acrylate by opening of the epoxide bond. The reaction between epoxide and stabilizer is diffusion controlled at high concentrations of stabilizer. UV spectroscopy on an LDPE film grafted and reacted with 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone showed that 227 nmol stabilizer/cm² was bound to the surface.