Grafting of acrylate monomers in cotton fabrics

Abstract The graft copolymerization of acrylate monomers, methyl, ethyl, n ‐propyl, and n ‐ or isobutyl, in cotton fabrics was carried out in the aqueous emulsion system by the ceric ion method. The rate of grafting decreases with increasing length of the ester group. The maximum improvement of dry crease recovery, thus raising its value, increases with increasing graft‐on shifts towards the higher extents of grafting, and with decreasing second‐order transition temperature of graft polymer. The improvement of wet crease recovery, equilibrated in the presence of a wetting agent, is always greater than that in the dry crease recovery even when the hydrophobic propyl or butyl acrylate‐grafted cotton levels off with increasing graft‐on. The improvement of crease recovery was explained by the stabilization of the opened fiber structures by grafting with acrylates, especially those having bulky ester groups, the entangled crosslinking between the graft polymers or the graft polymers and cellulose chains, and the consequently developed elastomeric or swelling, elastomeric behaviors due to the segmental movements in the amorphous regions of graft copolymer. Furthermore, from the measurements of water imbibition and repellency, moisture regains, tensile properties, stiffness, flex abrasion, and thermosetting properties, it has been concluded that the improvements of physical properties are remarkable in the propyl or butyl acrylate‐grafted cotton.