Antistatic finish of polyester fabrics by plasma graft polymerization and ionization.

Abstract

Acrylic acid and acrylamide were graft polymerized onto polyester fabrics via the surface activation by glow discharge plasma, and the antistatic properties were investigated. Antistaticity was not practically performed in the neutral state of the graft polymers, but the properties were remarkably improved by the ionization of the graft layers; namely by the treatment of the acrylic acid graft polymers with the dilute aqueous NaOH solution, and by the hydrolysis of the acrylamide graft polymers and the successive ionization. 0.3% of grafting was effective enough for the antistaticity of the polyester fabrics. Moisture regain was also increased with the graft polymerization of these hydrophilic monomers, and the improvement was much prominent in the ionized state of the polymers. It was suggested that the increase of the antistaticity was mainly ascribed to the ionic structure on the graft polymer layers, but not so much to the moisture regain.