Blends of Polypropylene and HyperbranchedPoly (phenylene sulphide) for Production of Dyeable PP Fibres

Incorporating hyperbranched poly(phenylene sulphide) (HPPS) into polypropyleneprior to fibre spinning markedly enhances the dyeability of polypropylene with CIDisperse Red 202. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties are slightly affected by theincorporation HPPS. Dyeing tests show that the disperse dye display much greatersubstantivity towards the modified PP compared to its unmodified counterpart. The K/Svalues of hyperbranched poly(phenylene sulphide) modified PP fibre show no increasewith respect to increased dye concentration from 4% to 6% “on mass of fibres” afterreduction. This is clearly an indication of reaching saturation of polar groups availablein HPPS modified PP fibre. DSC tests show that the crystallinity (χc) of HPPS/PP fibresis slightly decreased, but this decrease is not sufficient to allow the dyeability ofHPPS/PP fibres. The knowledge that may validate higher dye uptake with increasedHPPS content can be attributed to its more polar groups and aromatic rings enteredinto the system. The test results of the drawn samples as well as their sonic velocitymodulus have almost the same trend. DMA tests show that HPPS/PP blendsconsist of single-phase amorphous regions. The SEM micrographs show that the sizeof the HPPS domains is in sub-micrometer order and they have good interfacialcompatibility with PP phases, though the former can be extracted by THF from thematrix.