Advanced Textile Technology ›› 2025, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (06): 9-16.DOI: 10.12477/xdfzjs.20250602

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Self-crosslinking hydrophilic modification of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fiber surface with polyvinyl alcohol oxidation

  

  1. National Engineering Lab for Textile Fiber Materials and Processing Technology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018,China
  • Received:2024-04-11 Online:2025-06-10 Published:2025-06-17

超高分子量聚乙烯纤维的表面聚乙烯醇氧化自交联亲水改性

  

  1. 浙江理工大学纺织纤维材料与加工技术国家地方联合工程实验室,杭州 310018
  • 通讯作者: 吕汪洋
  • 作者简介:汪超(1998-),男,安徽安庆人,硕士研究生,主要从事高性能纤维功能化方面的研究。
  • 基金资助:
    浙江省科技计划项目(2022C01226)

Abstract: The ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber, as a high-performance fiber with high strength and high modulus, has found applications in numerous industrial fields due to its exceptional physical and chemical properties, such as ultra-high strength, good impact resistance, chemical corrosion resistance, and lightweight characteristics. These properties make it suitable for use in aerospace (processing of shell outer layers), national defense and military (stab-resistant materials), marine engineering (cables and ropes), biomedical applications, labor protection (cables), sporting goods and equipment, and many other industrial production areas.
Despite its numerous excellent physicochemical properties, the UHMWPE fiber still exhibits drawbacks such as easy creep, poor heat resistance, and no oxidation resistance. Furthermore, due to its high degree of orientation, high crystallinity and extremely low surface molecular polarity, the UHMWPE fiber has a very smooth surface and extremely low surface energy. This makes it difficult to process the UHMWPE fiber further, with challenges mainly manifesting in low interfacial bonding strength with resin matrices, poor fiber-to-fiber bonding, and poor dyeing performance. Therefore, the modification of the fiber, especially the modification of fiber interface, is of great significance to the expansion of its application range.
At present, the main modification methods can be roughly divided into wet modification and dry modification. Dry modification mainly includes corona discharge treatment, plasma surface treatment, etc. Wet modification primarily encompasses chemical etching, surface grafting, surface coating and so on. In view of the inert surface of UHMWPE fibers and the difficulty of subsequent composite, the article leveraged the ability of persulfates to initiate self-crosslinking of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). A thermally activated persulfate system was employed to deposit PVA onto the surface of UHMWPE fibers after self-crosslinking, thereby improving their surface hydrophilicity. The effects of factors such as the degree of polymerization of PVA, persulfate concentration, reaction time, and reaction temperature were investigated, and the fibers after deposition were subjected to ultrasonic water washing for different durations to test their firmness. The modified fibers were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that thermally activated potassium persulfate generates hydroxyl radicals and sulfate radicals, which can catalyze the self-crosslinking of PVA and its deposition onto the surface of UHMWPE fibers. For improving hydrophilicity, using PVA with a degree of polymerization of 1,700, adding 1 mL of 0.1 mg/mL potassium persulfate, and reacting at 80℃ for 90 minutes can achieve complete infiltration. Moreover, the coating can remain stable after 2 hours of ultrasonic washing.

Key words: UHMWPE fiber, hydrophilicity, radical crosslinking, polyvinyl alcohol, surface modification

摘要: 为了改善超高分子量聚乙烯纤维表面的亲水性能,利用过硫酸盐引发聚乙烯醇自身交联的特点,使用过硫酸盐热活化体系氧化聚乙烯醇,使其自身交联沉积在超高分子量聚乙烯纤维表面,改善纤维表面亲水性能。用不同聚合度聚乙烯醇对超高分子量聚乙烯纤维进行改性,考察了过硫酸钾浓度、反应时间、反应温度对改性纤维表面亲水性的影响,并对改性后的纤维进行不同时间的超声水洗测试,探究改性纤维的亲水稳定性。结果表明:通过投加1 mL 0.1 g/mL的过硫酸钾将聚合度为1700的聚乙烯醇在80 ℃下反应90 min发生自交联沉积,超高分子量聚乙烯纤维表面亲水性能明显改善,并且在超声水洗2 h下依旧可以保持其亲水性能稳定,同时此改性方法不会对原纤维的力学性能造成影响。

关键词: 超高分子量聚乙烯纤维, 亲水性, 自由基交联, 聚乙烯醇, 表面改性

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