Radiation Induced Grafting of Acrylic Acid onto Viscose Rayon Fabrics and Its After-Effects

Radiation induced grafting of various polymers with different monomers proved to be an attractive means to modify the physical or chemical properties of polymeric materials or textile fabrics. In the present work, radiation induced grafting of viscose rayon fabrics, consisting mainly of cellulose fibers, with acrylic acid monomer has been carried out. The grafting yields have been thoroughly studied as a function of different applied experimental parameters. The impact of the graft yield on the physical properties of the fabrics such as tensile strength, elongation, swelling, moisture absorption, crease recovery angle and also the dyeing properties of the fabrics has been studied. The effect of increasing the contact time of the fabric and monomer solution, at room temperature, after stopping irradiation has been studied in detail as well as the effect of temperature on the irradiated samples also after stopping irradiation. The best grafting yield was obtained on irradiating viscose rayon fabric in methanol-water solvent containing acrylic acid monomer, at a dose 20 kGys, then heating for 7 hours at 80℃ and finally keeping the samples at room temperature for about 20 hours. That treatment significantly increased the final graft yield.