Characterization Of Polypropylene(PP) Modified By Polystyrene(PS)/Garamite And Its Fiber Dyeability Study

Polymer/polymer/nano-particle composites were focused by more and more researchers in recent years. More performance can be reached by adjusting the composition of the blends. Polypropylene (PP) fiber is one of the main synthetic varieties. It can be used in a wide range for its good performance. But the applications of PP fiber were restricted in textile because of its bad dyeing behavior. In this paper, Polystyrene (PS)/Garamite hybrid particles were prepared through in-situ suspension polymerization of styrene and the organic modified bentonite, Garamite. Then it was added into PP matrix as a modification additive through melt blending. The system of PP/PS/Garamite was studied, and fine-denier fibers with good dyeability were obtained. Some exciting results were showed as follows.PS/Garamite particles with different Garamite content were prepared through in-situ suspension polymerization. The results showed that there was a good dispersion of Garamite in the PS/Garamite particles and the content of Garamite increased with increasing dosage of Garamite when the total dosage is below 8%.To improve the dispersion of the additive in PP matrix, the additive was melt blended with PP through a twin-screw extruder with a static mixed instrument. Crystallization study on the properties of PP/PS and PP/PS/Garamite system indicated that with Garamite in the blend system, the crystallization rate increased, the melt temperature decreased, the crystallization temperature increased and the PP/PS/Garamite blend system had a lower crystallinity.The fine-denier PP/PS and PP/PS/Garamite fibers were prepared with a melt spinning machine. The spinnability of the PP/PS and PP/PS/Garamite blends systems and the mechanical properties of the fibers were studied. Garamite had a good dispersion on fiber surface. Compared to PP/PS fiber, at the same draw ratio, the PP/PS/Garamite exhibited higer orientation. Through the dyeing test, it was found that the PP/PS/Garamite fiber showed high K/S value, C~* value and dye-uptake. The additive of PS/Garamite highly increased the dyeability of fine-denier PP blend fiber.