Radiation induced grafting of glycidyl methacrylate on teflon scrap for synthesis of dual type adsorbent: Process parameter standardisation

High energy Co‐60 gamma radiation has been used to graft glycidylmethacrylate (GMA) onto Teflon scrap by mutual radiation grafting technique. Effect of various experimental parameters viz, solvent, solvent mixture, dose, dose rate, monomer concentration, backbone thickness on grafting extent was investigated. The grafting extent decreased with the dose rate and thickness and increased with concentration of GMA. Among the solvent studied acetone–water mixture in which poly(GMA) was soluble was found to be the best solvent for grafting. A kinetic equation Rg = Kg[M] 1.7 D0.1 relating grafting kinetics to monomer concentration and dose rate was deduced. The matrices were characterized for morphology, thermal stability and dye uptake extent. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 35: 1367–1373, 2016