Kinetics of, free radical modification of polyolefins in extruders – chain scission, crosslinking and grafting

Abstract

Abstract Free radical reactions, carried out in polymer melts, have become a popular method of chemically modifying polyolefins. The elementary free‐radical reactions which are relevant in the chemical modification of polyolefins at high temperatures in extruders, such as chain transfer to polymer via primary and polymer radicals, β‐scission, double bond addition and bimolecular termination, affect chain scission, long chain branching, crosslinking and grafting. This brief review will discuss some of the work focused on the kinetics and mathematical modelling of these reactions.