Abstract
Graft polymerization is considered to be a kind of permanent chemical modification of polymer materials such as fibers and films. In this paper an attempt has been done to modify poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics with hydrophilic vinyl monomers using the proposed “film-sealed electron beam graft polymerization method”. In general the graft polymerization on high crystalline polymer substrate such as PET can be successfully carried out after sufficient swelling with some organic solvents. To avoid the use of poisonous organic solvents, the following procedure has been proposed; first the PET fabrics dipped in the aqueous acrylic monomer solution containing lower alcohol such as methanol, which are rather poor solvent for PET and they were then interposed (sealed) between PET films in order to avoid to expose to atmoshpere. The electron beams were irradiated to the PET fabrics through the sealed films to undergo the graft-polymerization. In addition, these fabrics were heated upto 50°C to ensure the further graft reaction. By this new method PET fabrics could be easily grafted with acrylic vinyl monomer upto ca. 15wt%. The surface of the modified fabrics filaments was smooth and the filaments were not adhered to each other. By the X-ray microprobe analysis it was found that the graft polymerization occurred not only at the surface, but also inside the filaments.
