Adhesion of cornstarch-g-poly (2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) to cotton fibers in sizing

A range of starch-g-poly (2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) (S-g-PHEA) with different grafting ratio was prepared by graft copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) onto granular cornstarch using ammonium cerium nitrate as initiator. The adhesive ability of the sizes to cotton fibers, film properties, and desizing ability of HEA branch grafted onto starch were investigated. The effects of grafting conditions (such as reaction time, temperature, HEA and initiator concentration, etc.) on grafting ratio and efficiency were investigated. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was employed to characterize the complexes of S-g-PHEA. The effect of grafting ratio on the sizing properties of grafted starch was studied by testing the ability of the grafted starch to adhere to cotton fiber and film properties. It was confirmed that the HEA branch can effectively improve the adhesion ability of starch to cotton fibers, improves the flexibility of the starch film while reduces the brittleness, and enhances the abrasion resistance of the yarns (the highest enhancement ratio up to 225.71%). An increase in the grafting ratio facilitates the adhesion to the cotton fibers while making the desizing difficult. The desizing efficiency was high when the grafting ratio was less than 10%, which lead to easy access to desizing and then fewer residues have remained, and at the same time, good sizing performance is maintained, which indicates that the S-g-PHEA possesses the application potential of cotton warp sizing.