Reactions of low molecular weight highly functionalized maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene with polyetherdiamines

Reaction between low molecular weight highly functionalized maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene and several diamines were carried out using xylene as a reaction media. The influence of varying the amine to maleic anhydride (NH₂/MAH) molar ratio and chain length of diamine on reaction was investigated. It was shown that the reactions of these materials cannot be followed by FTIR measurements alone. In these examples, colorimetric titrations were used to assess residual acid/anhydride content that was not detected by FTIR. The reaction between anhydride and amine was observed to be fast. The degree of reaction and crosslinking in the reactor was observed to depend on the concentration of the reaction mixture and the NH₂/MAH molar ratio. In some cases, a gelatinous insoluble mass was produced in the reactor and this material was not easily processed for further characterization. All soluble reaction products obtained were observed to be thermoplastic and could be melt processed at elevated temperatures. However, further reaction and crosslinking of these materials occurred during processing to produce thermosets, as demonstrated by rheological measurements and sintering experiments. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010