A New Method to Measure the Conversion of Radiation Polymerization of Electrolyte Monomer Diallyldimethylammonium Chloride in Dilute Aqueous Solution

The dependence of electrical conductivity on concentrations of diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DADMAC) monomer, linear poly(DADMAC) and their mixture monomer/poly(DADMAC) in dilute aqueous solution exhibits a linear relationship. It was possible to calculate conversion of DADMAC polymerization by measuring its electric conductivity. Although the electrical conductivity of the poly(DADMAC) solution decreased with increasing its molecular weight, in the process of UV or ionizing radiation polymerization the molecular weight of the polymers could be kept constant in the case of fixed temperature, UV-luminous intensity or dose rate. Based on the method mentioned above, the kinetics of UV induced polymerization of DADMAC in aqueous solution was studied; the overall activation energy of polymerization of DADMAC in the water phase was calculated to be 18.8 kJ mol$^{-1}$ . ${\gamma}$-Radiation-induced polymerization of DADMAC in aqueous solution as a function of absorbed dose was studied as well. The conversion of DADMAC increased quickly with dose before 30 kGy and then increased slowly. The experimental data of both UV- and ${\gamma}$-induced polymerization were verified to be reliable by inverted ultracentrifugation method.