2.10. Calculation of Grafting Degree and Grafting Efficiency

Determination of grafting degree and grafting efficiency was performed in an analogous way as described in previous studies on grafting silane coupling agents onto ethylene propylene (EPM) and ethylene-octene copolymer (EOC) polyolefins [2,4]. The grafting degree as a weight percentage (wt%) was calculated according to Equation (1) [2]. Integration areas (I) of reference proton shifts of the reference standards (R) at 5.37 ppm and the grafting product (S) at 4.69 ppm were used. N is the number of protons of the hydride group, m the weighed mass, M the molar mass and P the purity of the benzyl benzoate reference standard [2].

Grafting efficiency in wt% was calculated using Equation (2). For this, the measured VTMDS grafting degree was divided by the grafting degree theoretically expected under the assumption of 100% conversion [2,4].