Thermosensitive membranes by radiation-induced graft polymerization of N-isopropyl acrylamide/acrylic acid on polypropylene nonwoven fabric

Radiation-induced graft copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and acrylic acid (AA) mixture was investigated on polypropylene nonwoven fabric to develop a thermosensitive material. The grafting was carried out using methanol, acetone and butanone as homopolymerization inhibitor in the reaction medium. Butanone was observed to give the maximum grafting. It was observed that the grafting is significantly influenced by the reaction conditions, such as radiation dose, monomer concentration, monomer ratio, solvent composition and reaction temperature. The degree of grafting increased as the AA and NIPAAm concentration in the reaction medium increased. The degree of grafting increased as the AA fraction in the NIPAAm/AA mixture increased. The temperature dependence of the grafting process is very much governed by the thermosensitive nature of the grafted chains right from the stage when initial grafting has taken place.