Enhanced Dyeability and Wash Fastness through a Salt-Free Plasma-Induced Grafting of Cationic Monomers on Cotton Fabrics.

Free radical graft polymerization of diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DADMAC) on cotton was employed to substantially improve the dyeability cotton with reactive dyes under salt-free conditions. The effects of plasma-induced graft polymerization of DADMAC on cotton, followed by dyeing with different reactive dyes, was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. A color fastness wash test was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of cotton cationization on reactive dye fixing. The results show that the salt-free dyeing process with reactive dyes was effective after cationization modification, and the dye uptake rate and dyeing depth are higher than the conventional dyeing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]