Selective properties of polyester and cotton polyester fabrics gamma radiation grafted with different binary mixtures of vinyl monomers

Radiation graft copolymerization of individual and comonomer mixtures of vi nyl monomers onto polyester and cotton/polyester fabrics by the mutual meth od has been investigated. The effect of factors that may affect the graftin g yield, such as solvent composition, comonomer mixture composition and rad iation dose, have been examined. Suitable conditions that gives the highest graft yield without altering the original properties of the substrates are reported briefly. An attempt was made to determine the graft yield fractio n from each monomer in the final graft copolymer in the case of grafting co monomer mixtures by using elemental analysis of nitrogen. Moreover, the res ults of elemental analysis were used to determine the reactivity ratios of the vinyl monomers. Some selective properties of the graft copolymers of po lyester and cotton/polyester with the individual and comonomer mixtures hav e been investigated. The studied properties are the dye affinity for variou s dyestuffs and the mechanical properties in terms of tensile strength, elo ngation at break and Young's modulus. In general and regardless of the syst em used, grafting improves the dyeability of polyester and cotton/polyester with basic, vat, acid and disperse dyes. Also, it was found that improveme nt in dyeing and mechanical properties depends essentially on the compositi on of the graft copolymer and not on the composition of the feed comonomer solution or the total graft yield. (C) 1999 Society of Chemical Industry.