Introduction of poly[(2-acryloyloxyethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride)-co-(acrylic acid)] branches onto starch for cotton warp sizing

•P(ATAC-co-AA) grafted branch is found to be able to toughen starch film.•P(ATAC-co-AA) grafted branch is preferred to PAA in improving the adhesion of starch.•P(ATAC-co-AA) grafted branch is superior to PATAC in keeping starch desizability.•Electroneutral starch-g-P(ATAC-co-AA) is proposed for cotton warp sizing. An attempt has been made to reveal the effect of amphoteric poly(2-acryloyloxyethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride-co-acrylic acid) [P(ATAC-co-AA)] branches grafted onto the backbones of starch upon the adhesion-to-cotton, film properties, and desizability of maize starch for cotton warp sizing. Starch-g-poly[(2-acryloyloxyethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride)-co-(acrylic acid) [S-g-P(ATAC-co-AA)] was prepared by the graft copolymerization of 2-acryloyloxyethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (ATAC) and acrylic acid (AA) with acid-converted starch (ACS) in aqueous medium using Fe2+–H2O2 initiator. The adhesion was evaluated in term of bonding strength according to the FZ/T 15001-2008 whereas the film properties considered included tensile strength, work and percentage elongation at break. The evaluation was undertaken through the comparison of S-g-P(ATAC-co-AA) with ACS, starch-g-poly(acrylic acid), and starch-g-poly(2-acryloyloxyethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride). It was found that the amphoteric branch was able to significantly improve the adhesion and mitigate the brittleness of starch film. Zeta potential of cooked S-g-P(ATAC-co-AA) paste, depending on the mole ratio of ATAC to AA units on P(ATAC-co-AA) branches, had substantial effect on the adhesion and desizability. Increasing the mole ratio raised the potential, which favored the adhesion but disfavored the removal of S-g-P(ATAC-co-AA) from sized cotton warps. Electroneutral S-g-P(ATAC-co-AA) was superior to negatively grafted starch in adhesion and to positively grafted starch in desizability. Generally, it showed better sizing property than ACS, starch-g-poly(acrylic acid), and starch-g-poly(2-acryloyloxyethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride), and had potential in the application of cotton warp sizing.