UV-grafting Coloration of Poly (ethylene terephthalate) Using Bis(meth)acrylated Anthraquinone Dyes

UV-grafting of polymerizable dyes onto textiles could replace conventional adsorption-based coloration, which can save water, energy and environment. A novel bifunctional anthraquinone dyes possessing two photoactive acrylates groups were synthesized. The synthesized dyes of a low substantivity to poly (ethylene terephthalate), PET, fabric under the conventional dyeing process can be photografted onto PET fabric upon UV irradiation at room temperature without neutral salts, which makes it a novel coloration process of excellent environmental friendliness. The photografting may occur by the concurrent polymerization and grafting of the synthesized dyes onto PET, which was assisted by the photoinitiator. Moreover, the K/S of the grafted fabric improved significantly with the photografting of the bifunctional dyes. The graft yield and color yield were mainly influenced by pH, UV energy, the dye and photoinitiator concentrations. Furthermore, the color fastness properties of the grafted fabric were superior to that of the conventional dyeing technology.