The surface of polyester grafted with acrylic acid has been characterized using contact angle measurements of a two-liquid phase system and FT-IR and ESCA spectroscopy as a function of the concentration of acrylic acid on grafting. The COOH groups on the polymer surface influence only the polar component γ s p of surface energy and not the dispersive one γ s d . Both the FT-IR and ESCA characterizations, showing the transformation of COOH to COONa by alkaline treatment, provide information with a high degree of surface sensitivity, comparable to that of contact angle measurements. The relative area ratios of the COONa peak to the COOR peak by FT-IR ( A surface ) and of the Na 1 s peak to the C 1 s peak by ESCA are linearly correlated to γ s p .The modification of polymer surfaces is of fundamental importance in adhesion, adsorption, composite materials, etc., and is therefore of considerable practical interest. In textile technology, the surface modification of fibers and fabrics is highly correlated to detergency [ 6, 13 ] and to water and oil repellent finishes [ 7,9].To discuss the effects of surface modifications on textile properties, we must study the changes in surface free energy. For such purposes, both direct and indirect contact angles have been measured using films and fibers [ 10 ] . However, to our knowledge, no direct contact angle measurements on fabrics have been reported so far. Instead, to study the change in the wettability of fabrics, various sorption characteristics have been measured, but these measurements could not directly provide the real contact angles and surface free energies because of heterogeneous capillaries in the fabrics [2][3][4] .In a previous paper [ 5 ], we studied acrylic acid grafting of polyester fabric as an example of chemical soil release finishes. We clarified the intimate co-relationships between the removal of nonpolar oily soil, wettability by water, and surface concentration of COOH groups determined by FT-IR. Note that the fabric properties that greatly depend on surface energy were highly correlated to the surface concentration of COOH groups determined by FT-IR. From that finding we can speculate as follows: If we can find the clear and quantitative relationship between surface energies by contact angle measurements and some results by other surface characterization techniques such as FT-IR and ESCA, we should be able to estimate the surface energies of fabrics based on surface characterization using these relationships as a calibration curve.We have prepared several polyester films of different surface energies by grafting with acrylic acid and characterized these modified surfaces using contact angle measurements and FT-IR and ESCA spectroscopy. This paper focuses particularly on the relationships between surface energy and the characterization results from FT-IR and ESCA. Experimental MATERIALS AND METHODS ..Poly ( ethylene terephthalate) (polyester) film (Toray, Lumilar film 50 pm thick) was grafted with acrylic acid using Ohguchi's met...

In a series of studies on the effects of modifying textiles for soil release properties, polyester fabrics were grafted with acrylic acid to vary their surface energies while changing their bulk properties as little as possible. The surface free energies of grafted polyester fabrics were estimated using the relationship between the polar component of surface energies y g and the pcak area ratios of COONa ( 1580 cm-') to COOR ( 1250 cm-') by FT-IR measurements. The effects of grafting on soil release were also investigated with washing experiments using squalane, triolein, and oleic acid as oily soils. The effects of grafting on oily soil removal varied depending on the polarity of soil. Results are discussed in terms of the work of adhesion between oil and polyester fabric.