Functionalization of Polypropylene with Maleic Anhydride by Reactive Extrusion

Abstract This paper describes first results obtained in our group on the study of the reactive extrusion process for maleation of polypropylene in the presence of a radical initiator (peroxide). In accordance with the conclusions obtained in a previous paper the viability of such reactive processing is confirmed. Furthermore the necessity of a careful study about the values of the experimental process conditions in order to know the set of conditions which maximize the grafted maleic anhydride into the polypropylene, can be clearly concluded. We observe that the same mechanism seems to be governing the grafting reaction in the continuous and in the batch process. This can clearly be concluded from the results shown in this paper and in previous work.