Studies on the grafting of methyl methacrylate onto polyacrylonitrile

Abstract Grafting of methyl methacrylate onto polyacrylonitrile was carried out using benzoyl peroxide as initiator and dimethylformamide as solvent. The occurrence of grafting was confirmed by IR spectroscopy and SEM analysis. Effects of various parameters such as reaction time, reaction temperature, initiator concentration, and monomer concentration on rate of polymerization, percentage grafting, and grafting efficiency were studied. The graft copolymers were found to have the similar thermal and structural properties like virgin polyacrylonitrile. Decreasing extent of swelling was observed for the polymers of higher percentage graft in polar solvents. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.