Grafting of polyelectrolytes onto polyacrylamide by reactive processing

Low‐molecular‐weight high‐charge‐density cationic poly diallydimethyl ammonium chloride (polyDADMAC) was grafted onto nonionic polyacrylamide (PAM) using organic peroxide initiators in the molten state carried out in a batch mixer. The graft copolymer can be used as a high performance flocculant. Glycerol was selected as a plasticizer. The grafting reaction was characterized in terms of composition, temperature, degree of grafting, and grafting efficiency. It was found that free radicals on polymer chains were induced by the decomposition of the initiator. Grafting was produced by free radical recombination termination. The degree of grafting increases with an increase of the polyDADMAC/PAM feed ratio. However, the grafting efficiency was lower than 10 wt % in this highly viscous polymer melt system. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 74: 1412–1416, 1999