Swelling, ion uptake and biodegradation studies of PE film modified through radiation induced graft copolymerization

An attempt to develop biodegradable polyethylene film grafting of mixture of hydrophilic monomers methacrylic acid (MAAc) and acrylamide (AAm) onto PE film has been carried out by preirradiation method using benzoyl peroxide as the radical initiator. Since ether linkages are susceptible to easy cleavage during degradation process, PE film was irradiated before the grafting reactions by γ-rays to introduce peroxidic linkages (PE–OO–PE) that offer sites for grafting.The effect of irradiation dose, monomer concentration, initiator concentration, temperature, time and amount of water on the grafting percent was determined. Maximum percentage of grafting of binary mixture (MAAc+AAm), (1792%) was obtained at a total concentration of binary monomer mixture=204.6×10−2 mol/L ([MAAc]=176.5×10−2 mol/L, [AAm]=28.1×10−2 mol/L), [BPO]=8.3×10−2 mol/L at 100 °C in 70 min. The grafted PE film was characterized by the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) methods. Some selective properties of grafted films such as swelling studies, ion uptake and biodegradation studies have been investigated. The grafted films show good swelling in water, ion uptake studies shows promising results for desalination of brackish water and the soil burial test shows that PE film grafted with binary monomer mixture degrades up to 47% within 50 days.

► Binary mixture of methacrylic acid (MAAc) and acrylamide (AAm) onto PE film by preirradiation method was carried out.
► Graft copolymers of MAAc+AAm and PE film were characterized by FTIR, TGA and SEM studies and was found to be thermally stable.
► Grafting of MAAc+AAm improved swelling behavior giving maximum swelling (485.71%) in water as against PE with 0% swelling.
► The grafted PE-g-poly (MAAc-co-AAm) behaves as an excellent material for ion separation.
► Biodegradation studies by soil burial test showed 47.19% of degradation in 50 days period.