Surface grafting of acrylic monomers onto High Strength Polyethylene (HSPE) fibre have been achieved by means of a photoinitiated continuous process

a UV lamp (320-440nm) used as a radiation source and benzophenone a photoinitiator. However it is difficult to measure such a thin layer of grafts by weighing usually used. The degree of surface grafts can be characterized by Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Application (ESCA). The relative integral intensities of the ESCA core electron lines

oxygen and nitrogen to carbon

O1s/O1s and N1s/C1s

are used to indicate the relative degree of grafting of acrylic acid (AA) and acryla-mide (AM) as monomers

respectively. The determinations of the grafting by Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) (ATR method) and "dyeability"as well as adhesion to epoxy resin for the grafted HSPE fi-bre are compared with those by ESCA

indicating that the relative integral intensity of ESCA core electron lines

RI%

can be appropriate to characterize relatively the degree of surface grafts of HSPE fiber.