Formation of poly(methyl methacrylate) thin films onto wool fiber surfaces by vapor deposition polymerization

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) polymerization is a useful technique because of the possibility of forming very thin film of pure polymers on substrates with any geometric shape. In this work, thin films of poly(methyl methacrylate) or PMMA were formed on the surfaces of wool fabrics by a CVD polymerization process. Various polymerization initiators including dicumyl peroxide, tert-butyl peroxide, and potassium peroxydisulfate have been investigated to polymerize methyl methacrylate onto the surfaces of wool by the CVD polymerization. The wool fabrics were impregnated with initiators and were then exposed to MMA monomer vapor under vacuum at the boiling temperature of the monomer. Wool fabrics with vapor-deposited PMMA surfaces were characterized by elemental analysis, TGA, FTIR, disperse dye absorption, contact angles measurement, AFM, and SEM. PMMA-coated wool fabrics showed higher contact angle and absorbed more dyes than that of the control wool. It was evident from the results obtained by various characterization techniques that MMA was successfully polymerized and formed thin films on the surfaces of wool fabrics by all initiators investigated but the best results were achieved with tert-butyl peroxide.