Kinetics study of radiation‐grafting of acrylic acid,acrylonitrile, and their mixture onto wool fabric

The effect of monomer concentration, exposure time, irradiation temperature, and weaving direction on the kinetics of grafting acrylic acid (AA), acrylonitrile (AN), and their mixture onto wool fabric has been studied at the dose rate of 1.38 Gy/s. The degree of grafting is found to depend on the methanol‐to‐water solvent ratio and fabric‐to‐liquor ratio. The grafting rate and rate constant are dependent on irradiation temperature, type of grafted monomer, and weaving direction. The grafting rates increase with the increase in irradiation temperature (276–308 K). The calculated activation energy is nearly the same (16.4–17.2 kJ mol^?1) and the preexponential rate constant is dependent on the type of grafted monomer. The grafting of AA, AN, and their mixture are confirmed from the dyeing affinity of grafted fabrics towards Sandocryl Blue (SB), a basic dye. The formation of wool grafts and structural changes resulting from grafting were verified by using FTIR spectrometry and X‐ray diffraction analysis. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 4328–4340, 2006