Surface modification of ES fibres: the controllability of fold structure and its effect on hydrophilicity

ABSTRACT

Ethylene-Propylene Side by Side (ES ) fibre remains an important challenge in hydrophilicity. In this study, we obtained folded nonwoven fabrics (FNF) by the through air–bonding process. The fiber with the fold structure was prepared by regulating the treatment temperature, treatment time, and cooling rate. The results showed that the melting point of the shell layer should be controlled at 135°C. The fold structure was most obvious at 135°C, 2.5 min, and rapid cooling. Compared with the common sample, liquid absorption capacity, thickness, and the diffusion area of the FNF increased by 64%, 0.3 mm, and 41%, respectively, and the rewet decreased by 35%. The contact angle of FNF was 140°, which was 30° larger than that of common nonwovens. Except for the first time, the penetration time for the two other times was better than that of ordinary materials.

KEYWORDS:

• ES fibre
• surface modification
• hydrophilicity
• fold structure
• absorption materials

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the high impact research grant support from the TianGong University and Beijing Jinglan Nonwoven Fabric Co., Ltd. Thanks to Xiaoming Qian, Jilan Ma, Zhenhui Xie, and Chengqun Li who designed the work; Zhenyun Sun and Hongpu Jiao performed the experiments and analysed the data; Yan Feng and Mingjing Shan lead the characterization of the samples; Hao Zhang, Yunlong Shi, and He Bai participated in the preparation of the manuscript. All authors were involved in reading and approving the manuscript. Indeed, thanks to Shuang Deng for the motivation to complete this paper.

We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest was reported by authors.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, project number [U1607117] (Nonwovens topic direction) and Classification of Project, item number 2017YFB0309300 (Nonwovens topic direction).