Nanoclay/polypropylene nanocomposite dyed fiber

Abstract

Nowadays, polypropylene was widely used in fiber industry because of its advantages such as low density, good chemical resistance, easy processibility, good surface resistance, strain resistance, and especially it has low cost which is the advantage over nylon and polyester fibers. However, polypropylene has some drawbacks relating to its dye-ability due to its non polar aliphatic structure and high crystallinity; it does not have active sites to attach with functional groups of dyes, resulting in poor dyeability. In this study, the organoclay was incorporated into polypropylene (PP) fiber to act as a dye sorption part for improving the dyeability of the fiber. The dyeability of organoclay-polypropylene fibers extruded at different draw rations was investigated, as well as those with different surfactant modified-nanoclays. The results from K/S (a color intensity indicator) showed that the PP fiber modified with 5 phr organoclay can absorb dye molecules better than the unfilled fiber because adding organoclay causes an enhancement in the polar group and active sites for the dye molecules. In addition, fiber modified with 5 phr BTC- organoclay showed better dye absorption than DOEM-organoclay because the aromatic groups in the BTC-organoclay is more significant than polar groups of the DOEM-organoclay. Among acid, basic, disperse, and direct dyes, the disperse dye is the best dye for the organoclay/PP fiber, and the dyeability of the organo-modified PP is much better than the unfilled fiber. The increment of organoclay in PP fibers 3, 5, and 7 parts per hundred (phr) results in the increasing of absorption.