Gamma irradiation effects on the grafting of low-density polyethylene with diethyl maleate

In this work, a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was grafted with diethyl maleate (DEM) using gamma-rays from a Cobalt-60 source at different absorbed doses and monomer concentrations between 5 and 30 wt.%. This process was carried out in a decalin solution at 10 w/v% to obtain a homogeneous dispersion of the monomer into the polyethylene matrix. It was found that the grafting degree increases with the absorbed doses, as a consequence of the increased amount of energy given to the system, which made the grafting process more favorable. The grafting degree also increases with the concentration of DEM, because a higher concentration makes the insertion easier due to the increased availability of the free monomer. The highest grafting degree was obtained at 200 kGy of absorbed dose and with 30 wt.% of DEM. The melt flow index (MFI) values showed a decreasing trend as the absorbed dose was increased. This fact reveals that crosslinking and grafting are taking place simultaneously, this behavior being remarkable at higher irradiation doses. The results from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the initial degradation temperatures remained almost unchanged with the absorbed dose.