Imparting disperse and cationic dyeability to polypropylene through melt blending

The present paper deals with improvement in disperse dyeability as well as imparting of cationic dyeablility to difficultly dyeable polypropylene by a melt blending technique. Isotactic polypropylene (PP) was blended with fibre grade polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), cationic dyeable polyethylene terephthalate (CDPET) and polystyrene (PS), individually. The resulting binary blends were spun and drawn into fibres at draw ratio 2, 2.5, and 3. The compatibility of blends, structural changes of fibres in terms of X-ray crystallinity, relative crystallinity, sonic modulus, birefringence and thermal stability were examined. The blended fibres were found to be disperse dyeable by the conventional method of high temperature and high pressure dyeing. And this dyeability increased with increase in the level of substitution. PP/CDPET blend also exhibited dyeablility with cationic dyes in addition to that with disperse dyes. The optimum level of blending was predicted keeping in view of tenacity and thermal stability of melt blend fibres. The wash fastness properties of the dyed fibres were found to be of high rate.     

Atmospheric plasma treatment of polypropylene fabric for improved dyeability with insoluble textile dyestuff

Polypropylene (PP) fabrics were activated by an atmospheric pressure, dielectric barrier discharge to optimize the effects of some discharge parameters on the dyeability of PP fabrics. Air and argon plasmas were used to modify the surfaces of the fabrics, and the effects on dyeability were investigated when the treated fabrics were dyed by leuco and pigment forms of vat dyestuffs. Surface properties of plasma-treated samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Vat-dyed samples showed a significant increase in color strength when PP fabrics were pretreated with atmospheric pressure plasmas of either argon or air.     

Effect of using cold plasma on dyeing properties of polypropylene fabrics

The low temperature plasma (LTP) technique is used widely to modify polymer and textile materials. This paper describes the development of a plasma system for textile treatment. Polypropylene (PP) has a very low value of the surface free energy (approximately 20–25 mJ/m²). Due to low surface energy, Polypropylene has very weak hydrophilic properties. By controlling the plasma variables, such as the nature of gas, the discharge power, the pressure and the exposure time, a great variety of surface effects can be generated. In this paper, we report the effect of cold plasma of O₂ and N₂ gases at various time of exposure on the dyeing and physical properties of PP fabrics. The results show a significant increase in the color depth upon dyeing after treating PP fabrics with low temperature plasma of O₂ and N₂. For comparing the amount of fabrics dye exhaustion, we have used reflective spectrophotometer. The morphology of the modified surfaces has also been investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). And also FTIR was used to examine the functional groups of the corresponding samples.     

Effect of the atmospheric plasma treatment parameters on surface and mechanical properties of jute fabric

Plasma treatment is a kind of environmentally friendly surface modification technology, which has been widely used to modify various materials in many industries. Plasma treatment improves the fiber-matrix adhesion largely by roughening the surface of fibers to increase mechanical interlocking between the fiber and the matrix. For this aim, the effect of atmospheric air plasma treatment on jute fabrics has been discussed in this study. The plasma treatment has been employed at different powers and time intervals. The effects of plasma treatment on fiber properties were revealed by wickability, surface roughness, fiber tensile test and pull-out tests. The effect of plasma treatment on functional groups of jute fibers was observed by attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed the etching effect of plasma treatment on the surface. It can be concluded that plasma treatment is an effective method to improve the surface and mechanical properties of jute fabrics to be used for composite materials.     

The effect of etching on low-stress mechanical properties of polypropylene fabrics under helium/oxygen atmospheric pressure plasma

Polypropylene nonwoven fabrics were exposed to He/O₂ atmospheric pressure glow discharge plasma. Surface chemical analysis and contact angle measurement revealed the surface oxidation by formation of new functional groups after plasma treatment. Weight loss (%) measurement and scanning electron microscopy analysis showed a significant plasma etching effect. It was investigated in low-stress mechanical properties of the fabrics using Kawabata Evaluation System (KES-FB). The surface morphology change by plasma treatment increased surface friction due to an enhancement of fiber-to-fiber friction, resulting in change of other low-stress mechanical properties of fabric.     

Effect of process variables on surface properties of low-pressure plasma treated polypropylene fibers

Plasma surface treatment has been extensively applied in the textile industry for the modification of polymer materials. In this study, polypropylene (PP) fibers in the form of a nonwoven web were treated with low-pressure plasma (air, N₂, Ar) for different treatment time (5–40 min). Powers varied from (50–500 W). Surface properties were studied by measuring wetting time and hydrophilisation diameters after an exposure time of 20 seconds. This study showed that the best conditions for the surface modification of nonwoven PP, with low pressure plasma were a power of 500 W and a treatment time of 30 minutes. Ageing has some effect on the wettability of treated samples.     

Antistatic effect of atmospheric pressure glow discharge cold plasma treatment on textile substrates

Hydrophobic synthetic textile substrates, nylon and polyester fabrics, were continuously treated in an atmospheric-pressure-glow-discharge-cold-plasma reactor using He and air. The samples were evaluated for antistatic properties by measuring the static charge build-up and half charge decay time. The 60 sec air-plasma treated nylon fabric produced only 1.53 kV of charge and showed a significantly smaller half decay time of 0.63 sec compared to static voltage of 2.76 kV and a half decay time of 8.9 sec in the untreated nylon fabric. In comparison, the He plasma treated nylon fabrics showed relatively less improvement by producing static charge built-up of 2.12 kV and half charge decay time of 1.1 sec. Similar improvements were obtained for polyester (PET) fabrics as well. The treated samples showed good antistatic properties even after five laundry wash cycles. The surface characteristics of the samples were investigated using SEM, AFM, and ATR-FTIR. The results revealed that the improvement on antistatic properties are attributable to increase in the surface energy of the fabrics due to the formation of hydrophilic groups and increase in the surface area due to the formation of nano-sized horizontal and vertical channels on the fibre surface. The study suggests that plasma treatment may be used for imparting effective antistatic finish on otherwise hydrophobic substrates.     

Improvements of surface functionality of cotton fibers by atmospheric plasma treatment

This study aims to investigate the viability of atmospheric plasma treatment over raw cotton fabric surfaces as an alternative method for superseding the wet textile pre-treatment processes. For this purpose, the fabric samples were treated with air plasma and argon atmospheric plasma. Thereafter, the hydrophilicity and the wickability of plasma treated samples increased, and also the contact angles decreased significantly. Chemical changes were analyzed by FTIR-ATR and XPS. Morphological changes were observed by SEM. The results were inspected for assessing to what extent the replacement might be achieved by inducing this surface modification method.     

Modification of polypropylene fibers by electron beam irradiation. I. Evaluation of dyeing properties using cationic dyes

The dyeing properties of hydrophobic polypropylene fibers using cationic dyes were investigated to improve dyeability by electron beam irradiation and sulfonic acid incorporation. The color strength of polypropylene fibers after irradiation was examined according to the dyeing conditions including the pH of the dyebath, absorbed doses, and the introduction of a functional group to the fiber substrate. The best dyeing result was obtained when polypropylene fibers incorporated by sulfonic acid group after electron beam irradiation were dyed with cationic dyes at alkaline conditions and 30∼75 kGy irradiation ranges.     

Comparison between oxygen and nitrogen plasma treatment on adhesion properties and antibacterial activity of metal coated polypropylene fabrics

In this paper, an attempt was made to apply low temperature plasma treatment to improve the adhesion property of polypropylene fabrics. Oxygen and nitrogen plasmas were used for pre-functionalization of polypropylene fabrics. Then treated and untreated samples were coated with copper using direct current magnetron sputtering for 10 minutes. And the effect of oxygen and nitrogen pre-functionalization on adhesion properties between copper particles and polypropylene surface were studied. The textile properties of treated and untreated samples were evaluated by different standard testing methods in terms of both physical and chemical performances. The morphology changes of fabrics after plasma treatment were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses revealed chemical surface modifications occurring after the plasma treatments. Experimental results of the adhesion properties and surface properties are presented for the metal coated-polypropylene samples before and after low pressure plasma treatment, and results are compared. The adhesion properties of the activated samples are determined by abrasion and rubbing tests. The antibacterial counting test was used for determination of antibacterial efficiency of both treated and untreated samples, and durability of antibacterial properties was compared. The adhesion improvement has been related to the formation of different functional groups and changes in the topology of the surface.     

Effect of low temperature plasma treatment on wool fabric properties

Low temperature plasma (LTP) treatment was applied to wool fabric with the use of a non-polymerizing gas, namely oxygen. After the LTP treatment, the fabric properties including low-stress mechanical properties, air permeability and thermal properties, were evaluated. The low-stress mechanical properties were evaluated by means of Kawabata Evaluation System Fabric (KES-F) revealing that the tensile, shearing, bending, compression and surface properties were altered after the LTP treatment. The changes in these properties are believed to be related closely to the inter-fiber and inter-yarn frictional force induced by the LTP. The decrease in the air permeability of the LTP-treated wool fabric was found to be probably due to the plasma action effect on increasing in the fabric thickness and a change in fabric surface morphology. The change in the thermal properties of the LTP-treated wool fabric was in good agreement with the above findings and can be attributed to the amount of air trapped between the yarns and fibers. This study suggested that the LTP treatment can influence the final properties of the wool fabric.     

Improving certain properties of wool fibers by applying chitosan nanoparticles and atmospheric plasma treatment

The nanochitosan particles were prepared by ionic gelation method using sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) as anionic chemical agent. Structural and morphological properties of the nanoparticles were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses. The results showed that nanoparticles were spherical with a diameter range of 17-105 nm. After nanochitosan synthesis, the effects of chitosan and nanochitosan concentrations on the dyeability, fastness properties, shrink-proofing, tensile strengths, and surface friction coefficients of untreated and plasma treated wool fabrics were investigated. The studies revealed that nanochitosan treated wool fabric possesses better dyeing and shrink-proofing properties in comparison with conventional chitosan treated fabrics.     

等离子体种子处理技术对大豆生育与产量的研究初报

通过等离子体种子处理技术在大豆上应用研究表明：等离子体处理大豆种子可以提高种子活力,促进植株健壮生长,提高光合速率、灌浆速度,提早成熟,增加叶片的SPAD值。以1．5A剂量增产效果显著,提高百粒重,可增产8．7％。     

Influence of the CF4 plasma treatments on the wettability of polypropylene fabrics

A plasma treatment using saturated CF₄ gas was employed to improve the resistance of polypropylene fabrics to water wetting. The fabrics were significantly fluorinated even within a short treatment time of 30 seconds. The result of contact angle measurement indicated that such highly hydrophobic surface was considerably durable even after 150 days of aging.     

Effect of reinforcement and chemical treatment of fiber on The Properties of jute-coir fiber reinforced hybrid polypropylene composites

Present research investigates the mechanical properties of jute-coir fiber reinforced hybrid polypropylene (PP) composite with fiber loading variation and observes the effect of chemical treatment of fiber on property enhancement of the composites. Composites were manufactured using hot press machine at four levels of fiber loading (5, 10, 15 and 20 wt%). Fiber ratio’s were varied (jute:coir=1:1, 3:1 and 1:3) for 20 % fiber loaded composites. Both jute and coir fiber was treated using 5 % and 10 % NaOH solutions. Composites were also prepared using treated fiber with jute-coir fiber ratio of 3:1. Tensile, flexural, impact and hardness tests and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis were conducted for characterization of the composites. Tensile test of composite showed a decreasing trend of tensile strength and increasing trend of the Young’s modulus with increase in fiber loading. During flexural, impact and hardness tests, the flexural strength, flexural modulus, impact strength and hardness values were found to be increased with increase in fiber loading. All these properties enhanced with the enhancement of jute content except impact strength. 5 % NaOH treatment provided an improving trend of properties whereas, 10 % NaOH treatment showed the reverse one. The FTIR analysis of the composites indicated decrease of hemicelluloses and lignin content with alkali treatment.     

Inducing hydrophobic surface on polyurethane synthetic leather by atmospheric pressure plasma

This study investigates the use of atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) treatment for improving surface hydrophobicity of polyurethane (PU) synthetic leather with hydrophobic organosilane precursor. The precursor was deposited on the synthetic leather surface by means of APP treatment regarded as an effective, simple, and single-step low pollution method. The result showed that under a particular combination of the experimental parameters, a hydrophobic surface was achieved on the APP treated sample with contact angle of 94 °. Moreover, the hydrophobic surface is stable for at least 30 days after APP treatment.     

The eco-friendly surface modification of textiles for deep digital textile printing by in-line atmospheric non-thermal plasma treatment

This study evaluated the potential application of an atmospheric plasma (AP) treatment as a pre-treatment for digital textile printing (DTP) of polyester (PET) fabrics and cotton, in order to determine its viability as an alternative to the usual chemical treatment. The surface properties of the AP-treated fabrics were examined through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and contact angle, and the physical properties, such as electrostatic voltage and water absorbance, were tested. The properties of cotton and PET with the AP treatment were found to be dependent on number of repetitions and electric voltage. Although no remarkable surface differences were observed by SEM in the fabrics before and after treatment, the static contact angle of the PET after AP treatment was decreased from 85 ° to 24 ° at wave. In addition, the charge decay time decreased as the voltage and number of treatments increased. The absorption height of PET changed after exposure to 7 mm with increasing measurement time. The K/S with and without the AP pre-treated and DTP finished cotton was better than that with the usual chemical modification. In PET, the 0.5 kW and 1 time AP-treated specimen showed the highest K/S values.     

Modification and properties of polypropylene fibers using aluminosiloxane

Siloxylated polypropylene fibers composed of polypropylene (PP) and aluminosiloxane (AS) were prepared by melt blending followed by spinning. The effects of blend compositions on the thermal behaviors, surface and tensile properties of PP/AS blend fibers were investigated by DSC, WAXD, SEM, static honestometer, etc. The heat of fusion of PP/AS blends decreased with increasing AS contents. In addition, the peak intensity of PP/AS blends in X-ray diffraction patterns decreased with increasing AS contents. It was observed that the silicone molecules exist and well distribute on the surface of siloxylated polypropylene fibers. From the results of the half-life period measurements, the anti-static properties of PP fibers siloxylated with AS was found to be significantly modified.     

Improving the dyeability of poly(lactic acid) fiber using N-Phenylaminopropyl POSS nanoparticle during melt spinning

The dyeability of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) fiber strongly depends on disperse dye structure due to the low dyeing temperature and the short dyeing time. Thus, the dye uptake value of PLA fiber is low for some disperse dyes and is needed to be improved. In the current study, the dyeability of PLA fiber is improved with the addition of N-Phenylaminopropyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (AP-POSS) during melt spinning process. The effects of dyeing conditions including dyeing temperature and time, disperse dye type and AP-POSS concentrations are investigated on the dyeability properties of PLA fiber samples. The tensile, thermal and morphological properties of fiber samples are also characterized by tensile testing, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). As the added amount of AP-POSS increases, the percent crystallinity increases and the tensile strength reduces. According to the dyeing results, AP-POSS is very effective for increasing the dyeability of PLA fiber especially for disperse dyes with low dye uptake values.