Modification of the surface characteristics of fabrics by plasma process

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the improvement of hydrophobicity of cotton fabric by radio frequency inductively coupled SF6 plasma under the different of RF power pressure and exposure time conditions. The absorption time of treated cotton fabrics reaches the maximum of 210 min and the contact angle reaches the maximum of 149o. The water absorption time of the fabric follows the same increasing trend as the fluorine/carbon ratio at the fabric surface. We studied on the hydrophilicity improvement of polyethylene terephtalate (PET) fabrics by capillary rise method after treating with O2, N2 and Ar plasmas under different plasma conditions. The treated fabrics of all gases provide the mean pore radius and the diffusion coefficient values increased with exposure time, pressure and RF power. The treated PET fabric with O2 plasma results in the largest pore radius values. The increasing of weight loss is related to the etching rate and tensile strength. The enhancement of O/C after treatment on PET fabrics is also related to the obtained higher K/S values. For the improvement of flame retardantcy on silk fabric by argon plasma induced graft polymerization process, phosphate and phosphoramidate monomers were grafted on silk fabric. The grafted silk fabrics show a good flame retardantcy and durable after laundering.