Ultraviolet radiation‐induced graft copolymerization of 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate onto polypropylene

Abstract

SYNOPSISPolypropylene staple fibers were grafted with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate ( HEMA) using ultraviolet radiation in the presence of three different photoinitiators, uranyl nitrate ( U N ) , ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN), and benzoin ethyl ether (BEE), separately. The parameters of grafting were optimized for obtaining maximum graft add-on. BEE appeared to be a better photoinitiator than the other two, giving maximum possible graft add-on. CAN, as a chemical initiator, did not show significant improvement in grafting. The moisture regain of the grafted polypropylene increased in proportion with the graft add-on. Dyeing with reactive dye could give only light color to the grafted fiber. Possible explanations have been given.

Continuous photografting of HEMA onto polypropylene fabrics with benzophenone Photoinitiator

“…Also the UV-induced copolymerization is suitable for the integration with other technologies such as microcontact printing and photolithography to produce desired surface chemistry in well defined two-dimensional regions on a surface. Although a large number of PP grafting studies have been carried out [9][10][11][12][13][14], there are still obstacles to overcome for the implementation in the commercial textile manufacturing process including introduction of a continuous process instead of batch processes, absence of volatile organic solvents, not using inert gases or vacuum as well as grafting onto fiber or fabric forms rather than films, which is important for higher productivity, environmental friendliness, and cost effectiveness of the grafting process applicable to conventional textile finishing of porous textiles. This study is for the improvement of hydrophilicity and dyeability of PP fabrics by a continuous photografting process in the absence of inert gases [15] using 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and benzophenone as a monomer and photoinitiator, respectively.…”

Pretreatments of Textiles Prior to Dyeing: Plasma Processing

“…However, if the conditions are not controlled, radiation grafting may result in deterioration of physical properties of the substrate and may lead to photo-degradation of the substrate (Abidi, 2009). Shulka and Athalye have successfully grafted HEMA onto the Polypropylene staple fabrics using UV radiation (Shukla and Athalye, 1994). The choice of grafting with HEMA was based on its hydrophilic properties.…”

In Textiles

“…However, the majority of work on the grafting of polypropylene reported has used the irradiation technique. γ radiation [104,105] , radiation by electron beam [102,106] , and UV radiation [101,107] all have been successfully used for the creation of radicals on polypropylene surfaces.…”