Grafting of Polyester Fibers

Polyester monofilaments were grafted with methacrylic acid monomer in order to improve the water absorption and dye uptake characteristics. Kinetic parameters like percent grafting and grafting efficiency were measured as a function of concentration of monomer, initiator concentration, time of reaction, and temperature. The results show that the rate of grafting is proportional to the 0.167 power of the monomer concentration and the 0.545 power of the initiator concentration. The activation energy for grafting, calculated from an Arrhenius plot, was found to be 11.12 kcal˙mol −1 . Water absorption and dye uptake were tremendously improved by grafting.