Abstract
Different samples of acrylic acid/ acrylonitrile copolymer (AAc -co-AN) were prepared using gamma -radiation. The effect of preparation conditions such as comonomer composition, type of solvent, plasticizer and irradiation dose on copolymer thermal stability, optical properties and electrical measurements of the prepared copolymer were studied. The chemical structure of the (AAc -co-AN) copolymer films was confirmed via FTIR spectroscopy. The difference in comonomer composition showed a slight increase in the electrical parameters in favor of the higher AN content while the higher AAc content showed better thermal stability. MeOH as a solvent lowered the values of optical band gap, band tail width, DC conductivity and dielectric parameters of the copolymer compared with using acetone as a solvent. Poly ethylene glycol (PEG) as a plasticizer had insignificant effect on the properties of the produced copolymer except for the AC measurements where it lowers the dielectric constant and loss. Finally the higher preparation dose the higher the polymer molecular weight and degree of branching which led to higher thermal stability, lower optical and electrical parameters.