Radiation Graft Copolymerization of Vinyl Fluoride to Cotton, Hydrocellulose Fiber and Fabric

Abstract

Cellulose-based materials are not in short supply and are characterized by relatively low cost. On the other hand, cellulose fibers have a wide range of valuable physical, chemical and mechanical properties that make them indispensable in a number of sectors of the national economy. Along with valuable qualities, natural and artificial cellulose fibers also have some disadvantages that limit their use in technology and in the national economy. These are low resistance to the action of microorganisms, relatively low heat resistance, chemical resistance, flammability, etc., which reduce their service life and limit their scope. One of the ways to eliminate these shortcomings is the modification of natural and artificial macromolecular compounds by chemical and physicochemical methods. Improving the properties of cellulose and its derivatives can be achieved by various modification methods, among which one of the most promising is the radiation-chemical grafting of various monomers. One of the advantages of this method, in comparison with others, is the production of field worlds that are not contaminated with impurities, the presence of which can adversely affect their physicochemical properties. Another advantage is the relative ease of formation of macroradicals necessary to initiate the process of graft copolymerization. Quite a lot of work has been devoted to the radiation grafting of various monomers to cellulose and its derivatives; at present, some of them are beginning to be widely used in the national economy. In the light of the foregoing, the grafting of fluorine-containing monomers, the polymers and copolmers of which have such very valuable and specific properties as high heat resistance, chemical resistance, light resistance, decay resistance and hydrophobicity to cellulose and its derivatives, is of great scientific and practical interest. This work is the synthesis of graft copolymers of cotton cellulose with vinyl fluoride by the radiation-chemical method from the vapor phase, the study of the effect of radiation dose rate, reaction time, the presence and nature of solvents on the course of this process and the yield of graft copolymers, as well as the study of such important physical and chemical properties and operational properties of the original, irradiated and grafted copolymers, such as sorption capacity and density, hydrophobicity and swelling, degree of whiteness, mechanical properties, thermal stability, the nature of the change in the supramolecular structure as a result of grafting fluorine-containing polymers.

Keywords

• radiation grafting
• monomer
• thermal capacity
• thermal stability
• hydrophobicity
• degree of whiteness
• supramolecular structure
• fluorine-containing polymers