Polyester with durable UV protection properties through using nano TiO2 and polysiloxane softener optimized by RSM

Abstract

In this paper, durable ultraviolet (UV) protection properties were obtained on polyester fabric by the treatment with nano titanium dioxide (NTOP) as UV absorber and polysiloxane (PS) as stabilizer. The cross-linkable PS softener was applied to enhance NTOP durability creating soft handle. The UV protection (UP) properties of the samples were monitored by evaluating the color differences (ΔE ∗) on the stained methylene blue mounted under the treated samples during the UV irradiation. The response surface methodology was used to design the experiments and also central composite design was utilized for different variables based on Design of Expert software. Diverse UV irradiations were used including daylight for 24 h, UV-A (400 W) for 2 h, and UV-C (20 W) for 6 h. The appropriate model was utilized for each condition to create optimum polyester with UP properties. The results demonstrated that treated sample with 1.42% NTOP and 3.61% PS had the lowest ΔE ∗ = 0.13. Also, transmission spectra analyses (200–800 nm) of the treated polyester samples were in complete agreement and consequently desirable properties of UP were reported. The X-ray diffraction analyses of NTOP and treated samples indicated the presence of anatase crystal structure in NTOP which significantly absorbed irradiation with wavelengths of lower than 400 nm and inhibited significant discoloration of methylene blue.