Application Of The Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) On The Surface Modification Of Textiles

The fiber modifications are mainly done by chemical treatments up to now which are mostly harmful to environment and usually damage fiber substrates. The low-temperature plasma treatment is an environmentally friendly technique, and it doesn't alter the properties of fiber bulk due to the penetration within 10nm. Therefore, it is meaningful for us to achieve fiber surface modification using plasma treatment.Dielectric barrier discharge is effective in producing homogeneous plasma. Getting rid of the vacuum devices, it is especially suitable for using in modern continuous massive production, and hence has a broad prospect. Therefore, it has been the central concern in the field of low-temperature plasma. Some developed countries have made great efforts to carry out research on application of dielectric barrier discharge in the process of massive production, while the depth and scope of thestudy must be enforced in China.This paper focused on the study of surface modification of the fabrics of polyester and dyeable modified fine polypropylene as well wool tops treated by atmospheric low-temperature plasma by means of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) designed and developed by our research group. In the experiment, we used more reasonable and effective methods according to the properties of the textiles. For example, we applied 'the blow method' to produce homogeneous plasma in the wool top treatment, and the relative felt ball density was used to test the felt-shrinkage property of wool tops.Polyester is being widely used due to its excellent properties, but it shows some inherent shortcomings such as its poor wettability and static performance. After atmospheric pressure plasma treatment in argon the wettability and the antistatic property of polyester were markedly increased and the breaking strength decreased a little. The wettability of polyester fabrics just obtained by plasma treatment was declining with increasing storage time. Fortunately, it could be improved permanently by glycerol-1-allylether (GAE) grafting using argon plasma treatment. The results showed that the suitable dosage for GAE grafting was 5%.The wool fiber is a good natural fiber and has felt-shrinkage property due to its scale structure so that its application on textile is limited. The level of anti-felt shrinkage of wool top obtained with DBDtreatment could be significantly enhanced and the felt ball tests clearly revealed it by means of the measurement of relative felt ball density. And the fiber-to-metal friction measurements showed that the atmospheric pressure plasma treatment reduced the directional frictional effect of wool fibers, which may thus provide an anti-felt shrinkage effect to the wool fibers. At the same time, after the atmospheric pressure plasma treatment in argon the breaking strength and extension at break of wool fibers declined slowly with the treatment time.Fine polypropylene fibers which are improved in some kinds of performance are still hard to be dyed. The plasma processing at atmospheric pressure using a DBD in the mixed gas of argon and oxygen could impart evidently the effect of deeper hue of the dyeable modified fine polypropylene, and the effect didn't fall with the time. SEM photos confirmed that there were much more corrosion on the surface of the dyeable modified fine polypropylene after plasma treatment.