Ultraviolet irradiation of poly(alkyl acrylates) and poly(alkyl methacrylates)

Acrylic and methacrylic homopolymers containing different side groups were irradiated with ultraviolet light in the presence of air. The changes of molecular weight distributions of the irradiated polymers were analyzed by means of gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and the rates of chain scission and crosslinking were estimated. As the result of this study, it was found that chain scission takes place more easily in polyalkyl methacrylates than in polyalkyl acrylates.