Acrylic Acid Improved Nylon 66 Fabric by Electron Beam Irradiation-induced Grafting

Acrylic acid was grafted onto nylon 66 fabric by the electron beam irradiation method. Effects of different grafting conditions on grafting reaction were investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR), thermo gravimetric analyzer(TGA), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and YG065 type fabric strength tester were used to characterize the chemical structures, thermal properties, surface morphology and mechanical properties of these prepared nylon 66 fabric samples. And the anti-dripping performance was evaluated by the vertical burning. The results show that in FTIR spectrum new absorption peeks at 1720.2 cm^-1 and other wave numbers are assigned to the carboxyl groups, which imply that acrylic acid is successfully grafted to the nylon 66 molecular. The anti-dripping performance of nylon 66 fabric is improved significantly after grafting. It can be attributed to the cross-linked char layer which subsequently provides a support for the melting fiber. However, the mechanical properties of grafted samples decrease to some extent. With the increase of grafting ratio, the onset temperatures of grafted samples decrease gradually, while the char-forming performance enhances significantly. Besides, the damage length and droplet velocity of grafted samples become shorter and lower, and the tensile strength at break increases slightly