Abstract:

For the hydrophilic modification of isotactic polypropylene (PP), PP/TWEEN20 blends were mixed via a co-rotating twin screw microcompounder, then the blends were electrospun to fibers. The PP/TWEEN20 electrospun fibers were performed by Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier-Transform Infrared (ATR FT-IR) Spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Contact Angle Measurements. The thermodynamics of electrospun fibers was measured by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analysis. FT-IR spectrums indicated PP had been blended with surfactant TWEEN20. After blending with surfactant TWEEN20, the contact angle of the electropsun fibers was reduced considerably especially when the load of surfactant TWEEN20 was up to 3%. The electropsun fibers exhibited excellent hygroscopicity, whose contact angle was zore, even when the load was 5%. XPS results demonstrated substantial enrichment of the surfactant TWEEN20 segments on the surfaces.

Key words: polypropylene, melt blending, hydrophilic modification, melt electrospinning