Synthesis and application of ramie fiber soft modifier comprised of carboxylate-containing polymer

Abstract

In effort to improve the soft properties of ramie fiber, we synthesized a carboxylate-containing polymer for use as a modifying agent, and successfully modified the ramie fiber in a strong base with the carboxylate-containing polymer. We applied Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate the structures of the raw and modified ramie fibers, and further investigated the mechanical and dyeing properties of the raw and modified ramie fibers. The results showed that the surface of the ramie fiber underwent significant changes due to the grafting reaction of the carboxylate-containing polymer and fiber. After the chemical modification, the flexural strength and initial modulus of the modified ramie fiber decreased while tensile strength increased, indicating that the softness of the modified ramie fiber increased though its tensile resistance remained high. In addition, the fixation of reactive dyes on the modified ramie fiber was larger than that of the reactive dyes on the raw ramie fiber. Our observations of mechanical properties and dye fixation indicated that the carboxylate-containing polymer is an effective and efficient soft modifier.