Grafting Vinyl Monomers onto Wool Fibers. VII. Graft Copolymerization of Methyl Methacrylate onto Wool Using Peroxydiphosphate-Thiourea Redox System

Graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate onto wool was investigated in aqueous solution using the potassium peroxy-diphosphate-thiourea redox system as the initiator. The rate of grafting was determined by varying the monomer, peroxydi-phosphate ion, temperature, and solvent. The graft yield increases with increasing peroxydiphosphate ion up to 80 × 10^?-⁴ mol/L, and with further increase of peroxydiphosphate ion the graft yield decreases. The graft yield increases with increasing monomer concentration. The percentage of grafting decreases with increasing thiourea concentration. The rate of grafting increases with an increase of temperature. The effect of acid and water-soluble solvent and certain salts on graft yield has been investigated and a suitable rate expression has been derived.