The photolamination of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) by bulk photografting is described, along with a discussion of the adhesion mechanism. HDPE can be photolaminated very easily with a thin poly(acrylic acid) layer, photopolymerized from acrylic acid, with very strong adhesion obtained after a short time of UV irradiation; the adhesion failure mode is polyethylene breakage. Thicker HDPE sheets require longer irradiation times for strong adhesion. Methacrylic acid or hydroxyethyl methacrylate provides no adhesion of HDPE at all after irradiation. When glycidyl acrylate is used alone between HDPE sheets, the peel strength of the photolaminated polyethylene is only approximately 320 N/m, but when glycidyl acrylate or hydroxyethyl methacrylate is grafted with acrylic acid, very good adhesion can be obtained. It is proposed that stronger adhesion is produced by a less branched grafted chain structure, which permits much more chain entanglement. (D 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.