Modeling and optimization aspects of radiation induced grafting of 4-vinylpyridene onto partially fluorinated films

Modeling and optimization aspects of radiation induced grafting (RIG) of 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) onto partially fluorinated polymers such as poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethene) (ETFE) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) films were comparatively investigated using response surface method (RSM). The effects of independent parameters: absorbed dose, monomer concentration, grafting time and reaction temperature on the response, grafting yield (GY) were correlated through two quadratic models. The results of this work confirm that RSM is a reliable tool not only for optimization of the reaction parameters and prediction of GY in RIG processes, but also for the reduction of the number of the experiments, monomer consumption and absorbed dose leading to an improvement of the overall reaction cost. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.