ABSTRACT
Graft co-polymers combine the characteristic properties of the corresponding homopolymers, whereas random co-polymers usually reveal averaged properties of both homopolymers. Ionizing radiation of polymers leads to the formation of very reactive intermediates: free radicals, ions, and excited molecules. In the 1980s, papers appeared broadening the possibilities of controlled radiative transformations of polymers. In these papers, paths were proposed allowing the crosslinking of typically degrading polymers and the degradation of typically crosslinking polymers. Graft co-polymerization is a chemical modification of polymers involving the formation on these polymers of branched chains consisting of monomers of another type, as a result of which graft co-polymers are formed. The radiation-chemical method is more universal because it can be used to generate any active centres and to prepare desired combinations of polymers and polymer materials for any substrates. A direct method is the simultaneous irradiation of a polymer and a monomer, or of a polymer swollen in a monomer.
