Preparation of hydrophilic woven fabrics: Surface modification of poly(ethylene terephthalate) by grafting of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinyl alcohol)‐g‐(N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone)

Abstract

One of the most industrially important synthetic textile materials, woven poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics, have limitations in the usage of casual apparel applications due to their unwanted hydrophobicity. For that reason, in this study, to impart permanent hydrophilicity to the PET fabrics, hydrophilic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and a PVA‐based copolymer were introduced to the alkaline hydrolysis pretreated PET surface by graft copolymerization for the first time. The graft modification of PET fabric surface was performed with an industrial‐adaptable approach. The synthesis of a novel PVA‐g‐(N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone) copolymer was achieved by the introduction of glycidyl methacrylate monomer to the PVA backbone. The structure of the copolymer was evidenced by attenuated total reflection–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and 1H‐NMR techniques. The introduction of PVA and copolymer structures with desired functional groups to the PET fabric surface was confirmed with the X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique. It was obtained that the contact angle–wetting time of PET fabric (145° and 98 s) could be dropped to 37° and 0.1 s and 64° and 0.7 s after PVA and copolymer grafting, respectively. This suggests that the graft‐modified PET fabrics may find the potential of use in the textile applications as the alternative hydrophilic materials. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48584.

Surface Functionalities of Polymers for Biomaterial Applications

“…A solution containing EDC (40 mM) Alkaline hydrolysis in aqueous solution (0.01-0.05 M) permits the limiting of the hydrolysis to the surface of polymers [5,7,8]. A number of composite materials can also be surface-hydrolyzed, having been prepared from polylactic acid PLA [7][8][9], poly(ethylene terephthalate) PET [10], and poly(l-lactide-co-glycolide) PLGA [11]. The PLA film was prepared by standard solution casting technology and modified by the following surface alkali-acid hydrolysis method.…”

Modeling and Simulation of Polymerization Processes

“…[212] Preparation of hydrophilic woven fabrics: Surface modification of poly(ethylene terephthalate) by grafting of poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinyl alcohol)-g-(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone). [213] The preparation, physicochemical and thermal properties of the high moisture, solvent and chemical resistant starch-g-poly(geranyl methacrylate) copolymers. [214] Reverse poly(ε-caprolactone)-g-dextran graft copolymers.…”

Poly(vinyl alcohol)‐based membranes for fuel cell and water treatment applications: A review on recent advancements

“…By this method, densely grafted PVA‐ g ‐POEM can be obtained, containing 64 mol% of POEM. To introduce poly( N ‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone) (PNVP) as PVA side chain, Edrogan et al 43 used glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)‐modified PVA (GMA‐PVA). Subsequently, this GMA‐modified PVA has been used as the polymer for further grafting of PNVP to GMA‐mPVA via free radical mechanism, using azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator.…”