Super High Water-Repellent Treatments of Various Kinds of Cloths Using Sol/Gel Method

Abstract

Using mixtures of two kinds of silane compounds, tetraethoxysilane and triethoxy-1H,1H,2H,2H- tridecafluoro-n-octylsilane (commercial name : Fluowet FS600, Clariant Co., Ltd. ), super high water-repellent treatments were investigated on several kinds of fabrics. First, the mixtures with different mixing ratio were adjusted to pH 4.0 by adding acetic acid and they were aged for several hours under agitation to be proceeded condensation reaction of silane compounds. Then, the fabrics were immersed in such prepared silane mixtures. The excess of the mixtures on the fabrics were removed and then the fabrics were heated to 150°C to fix the silane compounds on the fabrics surface. The reaction of silane compounds were confirmed using FT-IR and EDX analysis. Very high contact angle of water droplet was observed even after enough washing.