Effect of NVP, HEMA, and Bis‐GMA Grafting on Thermal and Physical Properties of Poly(AA‐co‐IA)

Abstract In this work, we report the grafting of monomers, such as bisphenol‐A‐glycidyl methacrylate (bis‐GMA), N ‐vinylpyrrolidone (NVP), and 2‐hydroxy ethyl methacrylate (HEMA), on the copolymer of acrylic and itaconic acid [poly (AA‐co‐IA)] using simple condensation polymerization technique. The resultant graft copolymers are characterized by FTIR, TGA‐DTG, DSC, and SEM analysis. All these studies confirm the formation of grafted copolymers. We have varied the monomer concentration ratios and catalyst concentrations to study the variations in degree of grafting. All the synthesized graft copolymers are then mixed with HEMA and camphorquinone to make an LED light‐curable dental polymer. Thermal and physical properties, such as the strength and hardness of the cured grafted copolymers, are studied in detail and found that the developed composite is 35% stronger in terms of compressive strength as compared to commercial samples.