ABSTRACT
Öktem et al. (1999) introduced carboxylic acid groups at a polyester fibre surface with a 13.56-MHz low-pressure plasma treatment in two ways. In the first case, fabrics were directly treated in an acrylic acid plasma, while in the other case they were first treated in an argon plasma and then immersed in an aqueous acrylic acid bath. The argon plasma creates a large amount of surface radicals that initiate the polymerisation reaction. Dyeing with a basic dye caused the dyeability to increase from 0.34 K/S for the untreated fabric to 0.82 K/S for a 5-min in situ plasma polymerization. A value of 1.48 K/S was obtained for a 15-min plasma treatment in argon followed by a 5-min incubation time in an acrylic acid solution. Öktem et al. (2002) also reported on the treatment of polyester/cotton fabrics with acrylic and water plasma, and the treated fabrics showed a much higher dyeability than the untreated polyester/cotton fabrics.
