Crosslinking of Cotton through Graft Copolymerization

Abstract

Fabric samples were grafted with binary and ternary mixtures of selected vinyl monomers along with acrylamide onto cotton using ceric ammonium nitrate as catalyst from aqueous solution or emulsion, and subsequently polyacrylamide grafts were methylolated in situ and crosslinked. Except in the case of acrylamide-acrylonitrile treatment, finished fabrics show good wrinkle-recovery properties accompanied by satisfactory retention of breaking- and tear-strength and also very much improved resistance to abrasion. The finish is suitable for the deferred-cure process with minimum evolution of formaldehyde. When the above-mentioned uncrosslinked grafted samples are crosslinked through N-methylol crosslinking agents, improvement in wrinkle-recovery properties are accompanied by usual losses in strength and abrasion resistance. However, when ternary mixtures containing ethylacrylate, acrylamide, and acrylonitrile are grafted at higher polymer add-ons, and fabric is crosslinked through the conventional crosslinking agents, very good abrasion-resistance properties along with good strength retention are achieved. In the reverse process—i.e., where samples are first crosslinked through polyacrylamide grafts and then further grafted with ethylacrylate alone or in combination with other monomers—abrasion properties are markedly improved, while wrinkle-recovery properties are only moderate.