Modification of Polypropylene Fabric for Giving Water Repellent and Hygroscopic Properties Simultaneously.

The finishing procedure for giving to polypropylene non-woven fabric water-repellent and hygroscopic properties simultaneously was investigated. It was found that high repellent property (surface tension: over 29_??_35×10-3N/m) and suitable hygroscopic property (moisture content: 8_??_60wt%) were obtained simultaneously by the following steps.As the first step, the hydrophilic group was introduced into the non-woven polypropylene fabric by radiation induced graft polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) or mixture of sodium p-styrene sulfonate (SSS) and AA. Hygroscopic and wettable properties were given by treating the grafted sample with sodium hydroxide solution. As the second step, polyion-complexes were formed on the sodium acrylate surface by treating with dioctadecyldimethylammoniumbromide aqueous solution. As a result hydrophobic surface was obtained. Then, as the third step, the alkyl chain surface was treated further with CF4-plasma treatment to give water-repellent property on that. The structure of the modified surface was analyzed after each treatment by measuring ATR-FT/IR and XPS.