Structure and properties of silk grafted with acrylate fluoride monomers by ATRP

In order to develop water repellence silk materials, silk was grafted using acrylate fluoride monomers via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) photos of the grafted silks showed significant difference from the untreated silk. FT-IR characterization of the modified silk substrate indicated that acrylate fluoride monomers were successfully grafted onto silk surface. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curves indicated that the thermal stability of the grafted silk was improved. The whiteness, breaking strength, elongation at break and air permeability of the grafted silk fabrics decreased slightly compared with the control sample. Surface contact angle test and water repellency rating test showed that the water repellence of the modified silk fabrics were better than the untreated silk. Functional silk fabric with good water repellence property could be obtained by properly controlling the grafting yield, which had little effect on the intrinsic properties of silk fabric. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.