Radiation modification of silicone rubber with glycidylmethacrylate

• A graft copolymer with silicone rubber was synthesized by gamma pre-irradiation method.
• SEM–EDS analysis showed that the surface and the bulk of the new copolymer were grafted.
• The thermal properties of the silicone rubber used were modified with grafting.
• The new copolymer could be used to immobilize nucleophilic biomolecules.

The grafting of glycidilmethacrylate(GMA) was grafted onto silicone rubber (SR) by using the γ-ray pre-irradiation grafting method under different conditions. The effect of reaction time, total dose, reaction temperature and monomer concentration on the graft yield was studied. It was found that the degree of grafting can be controlled by adjusting these parameters. The chemical structure of SR before and after grafting was characterized using FTIR-ATR and SEM–EDS. The analysis revealed that the surface of the SR was uniformly covered by GMA and the cross-section analysis indicated that the grafting occurred in the bulk. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the graft copolymer was more thermally stable than polyglycidylmethacrylate but less stable than SR, and the DSC confirmed that the GMA was grafting onto silicone rubber.