A facile and green preparation of poly(glycidyl methacrylate) coated aramide fibers

A new method is introduced to facilely and greenly prepared a coating with functional groups on the surface of aramide fibers through a polymerization using horseradish peroxidase as the catalyst. The chemical and morphological structures of the poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) coated aramide fibers (PGMA@KF) were systemically characterized by attenuated total reflection infrared spectrometry (ATR-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). Interestingly, the surface morphology and chemical composition of the PGMA@KF fibers can be controlled by adjusting the concentration of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) for polymerization. These variations in structure between PGMA@KF and the original aramide (KF) fibers are also reflected in the macro-performance of the fibers. Compared with the KF fibers, the PGMA@KF fibers not only have dramatically increased content of polar groups, higher surface free energy, and rougher surfaces, but also show obviously increased mechanical properties, while maintaining excellent thermal resistance. For example, for PGMA@KF fibers with a compact coating of PGMA, its tenacity, energy to break, and modulus are about 23%, 19.4%, and 16.4% higher, respectively, than those of KF fibers. This attractive feature makes PGMA@KF fibers have superb advantages, compared to previous chemically modified aramide fibers in the literature. This investigation suggests that the method developed herein is an effective technique to prepare high performance organic fibers and corresponding materials.