Water and Oil Repellent Finishing of Textiles by UV Curing: Evaluation of the Influence of Scaled-Up Process Parameters
In this work, various textile fabrics were coated with silicone and fluorocarbon-based resins by photo-curing using ultraviolet irradiation. A great number of large fabric samples were impregnated by padding with commercial finishing agents and then irradiated in air with a high power, semi-industrial UV source. The add-on of various finishing agents was kept low to reduce the treatment cost. White and dyed samples of different textile composition were treated and evaluated in terms of conferred repellency, yellowing, or color changes. Most relevant process parameters were investigated, utilizing the thermal process normally adopted at industrial level as reference. The results were statistically evaluated by ANOVA using Minitab 16 software, in order to identify the most influential parameters and to evaluate the real possibility of replacing the thermal treatment with UV curing.
Wettability and comfort of cellulosic materials modified by photo grafting of non-fluorinated oligomers
The aim of the present work was the surface modification of different cellulose substrates, i.e. paper, cotton fabric and micromodal fabric. Photografting was chosen as an eco-friendly and economical surface treatment, scalable to industrial plants, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane and a low MW polysilazane having photoreactive groups were proposed as an alternative to fluorinated finishing agents. FTIR-ATR measurements showed the chemical modification of the surface by effect of the photografting. Surface wettability was deeply changed while confort was unchanged, as estimated by the moisture management test and air permeability measurements (fabric breathability). Finally, fire resistance was tested by cone calorimeter test.
The properties of SBS-g-VP copolymer membrane prepared by UV photografting without degassing
The grafting of 4-vinylpyridine (VP) onto styrene-butadiene-styrene triblock copolymer membrane (SBS) was induced by UV-radiation without degassing to obtain the SBS-g-VP copolymer membrane. The graft copolymer membrane was characterized by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The tensile strengths and elongations of dry and wet SBS-g-VP copolymer membranes were measured. The contact angle of dry and wet SBS-g-VP graft copolymer membranes with different amount of grafting were determined. By using Kaelble's equation and the contact angle data, the surface energy of dry and wet SBS-g-VP graft copolymer membranes were determined. The protein absorption of fibrinogen and albumin on the SBS-g-VP membranes were evaluated. It was found that the oxygen content in the SBS-g-VP copolymer membrane increased with increasing grafting degree which resulted from the UV photografting without degassing. The tensile strength of dry SBS-g-VP membrane increased with increasing degree of grafting but the elongation decreased. The tensile strengths and elongations of wet SBS-g-VP were significantly lower than those of SBS. The surface energy of dry and wet SBS-g-VP were determined by using Kaelble's equation and the contact angle data. It was found that the surface energy of SBS-g-VP membrane increased. The surface energy of wet SBS-g-VP was higher than that of dry SBS-g-VP. The absorption of albumin and fibrinogen decreased with increasing grafting degree and then levelled off.