Study of radiation‐induced polymerization of vinyl monomers adsorbed on inorganic substances. IV. Dose rate and temperature dependences in the styrene–silica gel system

Abstract

Abstract In order to elucidate the mechanism of radiation‐induced polymerization of styrene adsorbed on silica gel, the effects of dose rate and irradiation temperature were studied in detail. Monomer conversion increased with increasing dose rate and temperature. At the same conversion, the percent grafting increased with decreasing dose rate and also with increasing temperature. In general, GPC spectra of graft polymers and homopolymers showed two peaks; the ratio of the two peaks changed with dose rate and irradiation temperature. The dose‐rate exponents of the polymerization rate of four peaks were different from each other. The activation energies of radical polymerization and cationic polymerization were about 2.6 kcal/mole and 0 kcal/mole, respectively. Based on the results obtained, a reaction mechansim is proposed.