Application of Glycidyl Methacrylate (GMA) in Polymer Modification

Application of Glycidyl Methacrylate (GMA) in Polymer Modification

Glycidyl Methacrylate (GMA) can be grafted onto polymers due to the presence of a highly active acrylate double bond, and the epoxy group carried by GMA can react with a variety of other functional groups to form functionalized polymers. GMA can be grafted onto polyolefins by solution grafting, melt grafting, solid phase grafting, irradiation grafting, etc., and can also form functionalized copolymers with ethylene, acrylate, etc. These functionalized polymers can be used as toughening agents to toughen engineering plastics or as compatibilizers to improve the compatibility of blending systems.

The commonly used initiator for the grafting modification of polyolefins with GMA is diisopropylbenzene peroxide (DCP), and some people also use initiators such as benzoyl peroxide (BPO), acrylamide (AM), 2,5-di-tert-butylperoxy-2,5-dimethyl-3-hexyne (LPO) or 1,3-di-tert-butylperoxide isopropylbenzene. AM has a significant effect on reducing the degradation of polypropylene when used as an initiator. Polyolefin grafting with GMA will lead to changes in the structure of polyolefin, thereby causing changes in the surface properties, rheological properties, thermal properties, and mechanical properties of polyolefin. GMA grafting modified polyolefin increases the polarity of the molecular chain and also increases the surface polarity. Therefore, the surface contact angle decreases with the increase of the grafting rate. Due to the change in the polymer structure after GMA modification, its crystallization properties and mechanical properties will also be affected.