Preparation and characterization of AA/AMPS grafted polypropylene by two-steps electron beam irradiation for filtration of cigarette smoke

Novel filter tip PP-g-(AA+AMPS) has been prepared by grafting of acrylic acid (AA) and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS) onto polypropylene (PP) fiber matrix using two-steps electron beam irradiation method. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra and scanning electron microscope indicates that grafting of AA and AMPS on PP matrix were achieved. The maximum grafting degree of AMPS on PP-g-(AA+AMPS) reached 16.54 % with the maximum AA grafting degree of 12.14 % when the grafting reactions were controlled at iniferter concentration of 1.25 wt.‰, AMPS monomer concentration of 20 % and the irradiation time of 20 min. The thermal stability of PP-g-(AA+AMPS) was up to 374.5 °C. The smoking tests indicated that PP-g-(AA+AMPS) based filter tip had better filtration efficiency than PP based filter tip (64 % vs. 28 %). The adsorption capacity of PP-g-(AA+AMPS) was 16.38 mg/g and 8.9 mg/g for nicotine and tar, respectively.