Physicochemical study of radiation-grafted LDPE copolymer and its use in metal ions adsorption

Graft copolymerization of (acrylonitrile-co-N-vinylpyrrolidone) AN/NVP binary monomer onto (low density polyethylene) LDPE film was achieved using simultaneous irradiation method. The influence of grafting conditions such as solvent type, comonomer composition and comonomer concentration on the grafting process were investigated. The prepared grafted films were chemically modified into amidoximated form using hydroxyl amine hydrochloride (NH2OH center dot HCl). The untreated and amidoximated grafted films were characterized by studying their FT-IR spectroscopy, swelling behavior and mechanical properties. The ability of the amidoximated grafted films to adsorbed metal ions such as Cr3+, Ni2+, Cd2+, Ag+ and Pb2+ was evaluated. The parameters that might influence the metal ions adsorption capacity of treated grafted LDPE films such as comonomer compositions, the degree of grafting, the feeding metal ions solution concentration and the pH were discussed. The obtained results illustrate that the amidoximated grafted films could be fruitful in the practical field of water treatment. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.