Effect of Polyvinylpyrrolidone on the Morphologies of Latex Films and Air Permeability of the Latex Finished Fabrics

Low air permeability is a common problem happening to the coating finished and pigment dyed fabrics.To tackle the problem,styrene and butyl acrylate copolymer latex was prepared and used as substitute for the binder.Then,polyvinylpyrrolidone（PVP）was fed into the latex.It was expected that pores could form in the resulting latex film after being rinsed.The morphologies of the latex films were analysized by scanning electric microscope（SEM）.It was found that the continuity of the latex films decreased greatly because of the addition of PVP,leading to the loss of the stress at break of the films.After rinsing with methanol aqueous solution,PVP was easily leached off and（macro）void was formed in the latex films.The size of the void decreased with the increase of the PVP concentration.Then,the latex with and without PVP was used to finish the cotton fabrics and engaged as binder in pigment dyeing.After PVP was rinsed out,the air permeability of the fabrics improved greatly,which recovered to that of the unfinished one.In the meantime,the color fastness to rubbing was little affected.So,the method of PVP addition could be termed as an efficient way to improve the air permeability in coating and dyeing industry.