Interfacial Optimization of Acetate Taffeta Fabric/PLA Composites

For the interfacial optimization of Acetate Taffeta Fabric (ATF) with Poly Lactic Acid (PLA), steady-state uniform atmospheric glow discharge (AGD) and Silane treatments were studied, respectively. In AGD, the plasma polymerization time for ATF was varied up to 3 minutes. In silane treatments, three types of silane coupling agents, aminoethylaminopropyl-trimethoxysilane, 3-glycidoxypropyl-trimethoxysilane and 3-methacryloxypropyltrime-thoxysilane, were used respectively with concentrations ranging from 0 to 5%. Silane coupling agent was chosen since -OH in silane always reacts with -OH in PLA. Also, all three silanes have similar chemical structures with that of Lactic Acid. The sizing on the fabric was with a solution containing PVA, acryl and water at the ratio of 3:1:96. Peel tests were carried out for the surface modified fabrics before and after removing the sizing. Highest peel test results was obtained with 3% silane concentration. Tensile tests were carried out before analyzing the fracture surface of the composites by scanning electron microscope. Compared to raw fabric, plasma and silane treatments have improved the tensile strength at maximum of 30.4 and 27.4%, respectively.