Chemical Surface Modification of Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene Fiber with Side-Chain Crystalline Block Copolymers and the Dyeing Characteristics

Polyethylene is known to be highly resistant to solvents, difficult to modify, and have inferior bonding strength. And it is generally accepted that the surface modification of PE is possible only by severing the main chain using physical methods, for instance by using plasma or flaring, and then introducing functional groups. However, in recently, Yao et al. found that a side chain crystalline polymer with long alkane side chain can adsorb on polyethylene surface by crystalline supramolecular interaction. And they also indicate that a side chain crystalline block copolymer consisted with side chain crystalline unit and functional polymer unit can modify polyethylene surface property by chemically. In this study, we investigated the ability of these block co-polymers for modifying the surface of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, which is one of the most challenging materials in terms of surface modification. The results show that dipping in highly dilute side chain crystalline block copolymer could modify the woven cloth of the ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene fiber to have good dyeability. The resulting dyeability is considerably more significant than that after conventional plasma and corona processing. These results indicate that side chain crystalline block copolymer can modify ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene fibers to exhibit various functionalities, and therefore significantly increase the breadth of applications of similar fibers.