Controlling the thermosensitivity of poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) for smart glass applications via electron beam irradiation

Stimuli-responsive polymers are classified as materials that can experience moderately large and abrupt, physical or chemical changes in response to small external changes in environmental conditions. When exposed to ionizing radiation such as electron beam, radiation induced free radical reactions can take place such as chain branching or crosslinking, therefore; enhancing the physicochemical characteristics of these responsive polymers. In this study, Poly (N-vinylcaprolactam) (PNVCL) was prepared by photopolymerisation and the lower critical solution temperature of the physically crosslinked PNVCL copolymers was tailored by controlling the contents of the material concentration and the electron beam irradiation dose, i.e. 0, 5, and 50 kGy. The lower critical solution temperature of the polymers was established by UV-spectroscopy. By altering the radiation dose, this allowed the key attributes of the PNVCL to be tailored in order to suit a number of applications, for example, smart glass technology.