Synthesis and characterization of fluorinated polyacrylate as water and oil repellent and soil release finishing agent for polyester fabric

A new kind of multifunctional polyacrylate latex containing fluorinated and hydrophilic groups (FHPA) was synthesized by semi-continuous emulsion polymerization. Particle size, particle size distribution and zeta potential were tested to evaluate the emulsion stability and high-resolution transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used to observe the particle morphology. Afterwards, FHPA as finishing agent was coated onto polyester fabric by a pad-dry-cure method. Thermal and surface properties of FHPA coated polyester fabric were characterized by thermal-gravimetric analysis (TGA), atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). It was found that the fluoroalkyl groups preferentially enriched on the film-air interface and could decrease the surface free energy of FHPA film to 18.4 mN/m, generating a hydrophobic and oleophobic surface. The static contact angle tests also confirmed this point. Furthermore, the water and oil repellency and soil release properties of FHPA on polyester fabric were investigated, and the experimental results showed that the introduction of hydrophilic chains in fluorinated acrylate polymer could significantly improve the soil release performance of the fluorine-containing finished polyester fabric by producing a roll-up mechanism for oil removal during washing.