Improvement of Polypropylene Properties by Irradiation / Grafting and other Modifications.

Abstract

In Egypt, at Port-Said there is a great company producing polypropylene chips from propylene gas ( and a catalyst) , a product of petroleum. These are melt spinning into yarns to produce woven or non - woven fabrics. Polypropylene (PP) is a cheap fabric, bearing chemical resistance and excellent mechanical properties . PP is hydrophobic in nature , inactive synthetic fabric due to the absence of reactive functional groups in the molecular structure, thus preventing its dyeing For this reason , PP fibers are modified by irradiation methods to form free radical centers onto the surface and graft selected vinyl monomers . Different irradiation techniques are adopted involving plasma discharge, electron beams , ozone , UV, γ- rays and other modifications. PP is grafted with selected monomers including methacrylate derivatives such as ( 2N -Dimethyl amino ethyl methacrylate ,2N morpholino ethyl methacrylate , 2- ethyl methacrylate phosphoric acid , methyl methacrylate, 2- hydroxy ethyl methacrylate ) acrylic acid , styrene , chloro methyl styrene , vinyl acetate etc... The different variable factors affecting PP irradiation and grafting reactions are considered such as irradiation dose , storage time of irradiated fabric , monomer concentration , reaction time and temperature . Physical properties of grafted PP are studied for those containing tertiary amino or quaternized groups which improved the increase of moisture regain , melting point and enhancement affinity to dyeing by different classes of dyestuffs. Other important properties improvement include ion exchange capacity electrical conductivity , antistatic, insect repellent activity an antibacterial property . PP containing Ag, Zn, ZnO, TiO2 , Cu2O nano particles are antibacterial fabrics which are used as wound healing dressings.