Free radical generation upon plasma treatment of cotton fibers and their initiation efficiency in surface-graft polymerization.
Low-temperature plasma was used to activate mercerized cotton fabrics, to be followed by grafting with various methacrylates. Careful analysis of the experimental electron spin resonance (ESR) lineshapes of cotton samples treated at different RF powers made it possible to recognize and quantify four different species of free radicals still persistent 30 h after irradiation in the samples maintained under inert atmosphere. The decay rate of these species at room temperature was also evaluated with the analysis of the time evolution of the ESR spectra. The nature of the free radical species actually involved in the monomer grafting reaction has been discussed for cotton fabrics prepared under different plasma treatment conditions by analyzing the ESR lineshapes.
Andreozzi
Laura
L
Dipartimento di Fisica "E. Fermi," largo B. Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa, Italy. laura.andreozzi@df.unipi.it
Castelvetro
Valter
V
Ciardelli
Gianluca
G
Corsi
Leopoldo
L
Faetti
Massimo
M
Fatarella
Enrico
E
Zulli
Fabio
F