Electron Beam Curing of Acrylate Monomer/ Oligomers Microstructure onto Polyester (PET) Membrane to Modify the Water Wetting Properties

Hydrophilic surfaces have considerable technological potential for various applications due to their extreme water wetting. If a water drop is fixed on the surface of modified poly (ethylene terephalate) (PET) polymer and the water contact angle is lower than 90 degree, the resulting surface is considered water wetting. The adhesion force was determined by the degree of scratching and abrasion force. The scratching resistance and abrasion resistance of the modified surface were studied. Characterization of the prepared cured surfaces depends on the hydrophilicity of both monomer and oligomer used. The curing process was carried out using electron beam irradiation at different doses ranged from 10 to 100 kGy. The crosslinking of monomer with both oligomer and polymer substrate through the acrylate bond was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. It was found that the degree of crosslinking depends on the ratio of hydrophilic monomer and oligomer selected for this purpose. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to show the quality of the surface morphology of the cured PET polymer for water wetting