Proton exchange membranes prepared by simultaneous radiation grafting of styrene onto poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) films.: I.: Effect of grafting conditions

The simultaneous radiation grafting of styrene onto poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) (FEP) films was studied at room temperature. The effects of grafting conditions (type of solvent, irradiation dose, dose rate, and monomer concentration) were investigated. The degree of grafting was found to be dependent on the investigated grafting conditions. The dependence of the initial rate of grafting on the dose rate and the monomer concentration was found to be of 0.5 and 1.3 orders, respectively. The results suggest that grafting proceeds by the so-called front mechanism in which the grafting front starts at the surface of the film and moves internally toward the middle of the film by successive diffusion of styrene through the grafted layers. Some selected properties of the grafted films were evaluated in correlation with the degree of grafting. We found that the grafted FEP films possess good mechanical stability, which encourages their use for the preparation of proton exchange membranes. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.