New disperse dyeing method of poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) fiber pretreated with polyphosphoric acid

Abstract

Poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) fiber is considered as a high-performance fiber because of its high strength and excellent thermal and chemical stability. It has been used in industrial reinforcement, body armor and military camouflage. But the application of poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) fiber used for protective clothing is limited because it is difficult to dye with conventional dyeing processes. In this work, a carrier dyeing method with disperse dyes was first used to dye the fiber after a pretreatment with polyphosphoric acid. The effects of the carrier structure and dyeing conditions on the color strength of dyed samples were investigated. In addition, the crystallinity and orientation degree of the poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) fibers before and after pretreatment with phthalimide and benzyl benzoate were measured by X-ray diffraction and velocity-oriented test, respectively. The results suggested phthalimide and benzyl benzoate, as carrier, could effectively promote disperse dyeing of the PBO fiber pretreated with polyphosphoric acid. Meanwhile, the optimal conditions for the carrier dyeing were obtained, that is, concentration of carrier 4%, dyeing temperature 150 °C and time 120 min. By way of the carrier dyeing, the K/S value of dyed sample and the percentage of dye exhaustion were greatly improved, while the crystalline structure and orientation degree of the pretreated samples hardly changed. Furthermore, the decreases of the tensile strength and the limiting oxygen index of dyed poly(p-phenylene benzobisoxazole) sample were very little, and the color fastness was also satisfactory.