Hydrophilic modification of PET fabric via continuous photografting of acrylic acid (AA) and hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA)

Poly(acrylic acid) and poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) were introduced onto PET fabrics by UV-induced photografting to improve its hydrophilicity. Several factors affecting the photografting were studied including irradiation energy, monomer, and photoinitiator (PI) concentrations. ATR and ESCA analyses proved successful grafting of the two monomers onto PET. Morphology of fabric surface was examined using FE-SEM. Both zeta potential and water wetting time of the grafted PET fabrics decreased with increasing grafting yield. Also cationic dyeability of the grafted PET fabrics increased because of the increased electrostatic interactions between the anionic dyeing sites and cationic dyes.