The radiation grafting of vinyl monomers to cotton fabrics—I Methacrylic acid to terry cloth towelling

Cobalt 60 gamma and electron beam irradiation have been studied for the grafting of methacrylic acid in aqueous solution to cotton fabric. Dose rate effects led to greater degrees of grafting with gamma radiation. Doses higher than one or five megarads for gamma and electron beam irradiations, respectively, caused some degradation of the grafted side chains. The effect of monomer concentration was also investigated, high concentrations led to lower yields; this was ascribed to poorer penetration of the monomer solution into the fabric at lower water constants. The addition of small amounts of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate gave higher graft efficiencies due to crosslinking. Excellent yields and efficiencies were obtained under optimum conditions. The grafted products will have higher hydrophillicity and also ion exchange capacity compared with the original cotton fabric.