Modification of polyester fabric properties by surfactant-aided surface polymerization

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was applied to polyester fabric using a surface analog of emulsion polymerization. The admicellar polymerization was carried out using 1.5 mM dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) at pH 4 with 0.15M NaCl, 1 : 8 DBSA:monomer, and 1 : 10 initiator:monomer molar ratio. The PMMA film, which was formed, was characterized by SEM and FTIR. Hydrolysis of the PMMA film on polyester fabric was carried out to introduce carboxylic acid groups to the polyester surface to increase its hydrophilicity. The results show that a PMMA thin film was successfully formed on the polyester fabric. The water contact angle of the PMMA‐coated polyester fabric after hydrolysis by 10M H2SO4 for 5 h was reduced from 117.3° to 0° and there was a significant increase in the moisture‐regain value of the treated fabric. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 4059–4064, 2007