Tailoring a New Sizing Agent via Structural Modification of Pregelled Starch Molecules Part 1: Carboxymethylation and Grafting

Pregelled starch (PS) was subjected to acid hydrolysis using phosphoric acid to prepare pregelled starches having different molecular sizes. The degraded pregelled starches were carboxymethylated at different reaction times. The carboxymethyl derivatives were grafted with either methacrylamide (MAam) or methacrylonitrile (MAN) as vinyl monomers using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as initiator. Suitability of the new graft derivatives of pregelled starch as sizing agent of cotton yarns was studied. It is shown by the data that the extent of carboxymethylation, expressed as carboxyl content, increases by increasing the extent of hydrolysis and reaction time. Furthermore, the graft yield, expressed as mmol MAam or MAN monomer/100 g graft copolymer (grafted carboxymethylated pregelled starch or grafted carboxymethylated hydrolyzed pregelled starch) increases with increasing extent of carboxymethylation and degree of hydrolysis and follows the order: MAam > MAN. In addition cotton yarns sized with grafted carboxymethylated hydrolyzed pregelled starch – irrespective of the grafting monomer used – have better mechanical properties (tensile strength, elongation at break, and abrasion resistance) than hydrolyzed pregelled starches, carboxymethylated pregelled starch and carboxymethylated hydrolyzed pregelled starches.