Polycarbonate-g-polyacrylate graft copolymerization

Abstract

A method of grafting alkyl (alkyl) acrylate to a polycarbonate at a carbon atom which both before and after grafting has an sp.sup.3 electron configuration, includes the step of contacting a polycarbonate which is in the solid phase with alkyl (alkyl)acrylate monomers in the presence of a suitable free radical initiator at a temperature sufficient to activate the free radical initiator for a time sufficient to attain a desired degree of grafting. The grafting method of the invention allows for the relatively rapid production of polycarbonate-graft-poly(alkyl(alkyl)acrylate) copolymers using conventional polycarbonate polymers which have not been specially modified to facilitate grafting. The resulting graft copolymer of the process generally has an alkyl (alkyl)acrylate content of from about 1 to about 20 percent by weight with the polycarbonate portion of the graft copolymer having a weight-average molecular weight of from about 5,000 to about 200,000. The graft copolymer product is ideally suited for use as a compatibilizer for forming a miscible polymeric blend between two or more immiscible polymers, or can be used substantially alone as a thermoplastic having enhanced properties characteristic of both polycarbonate and polyacrylates.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.