Production of Dyeable Polypropylene Fiber Using Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes via Melt Spinning

A disperse dyeable polypropylene (PP) fiber was produced with the addition of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) nanoparticles via melt spinning technique. Accordingly, two different POSS nanoparticle, dodecaphenyl POSS (DP-POSS) and N-phenyl aminopropyl POSS (AP-POSS), was selected. After the dyeing temperature and time were optimized, the effect of dye and POSS concentrations were investigated at optimized dyeing conditions. The wash fastness of fiber samples was also studied. In addition, the percent crystallinities of fiber samples were determined by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and the morphological analyses were performed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was observed that although the addition of DP-POSS did not change the dyeability of PP fiber significantly, the inclusion of AP-POSS highly enhanced the dyeability of PP fiber. It was concluded that AP-POSS behaved as an excellent sorbent for disperse dye. As a result the pristine PP and DP-POSS modified fibers were dyed to a pale depth and AP-POSS modified fibers were dyed to a deeper depth