Weighting and improvement of silk properties

Silk was modified with the aim to increase the weight and improve the physical properties. A grafting chemical redox technique was adopted in this investigation by using ammonium persulfate (APS), copper sulfate as initiator and accelelerator for the reaction, glycidyl methacrylate (GM), and acrylamide (AM), or their mixture. The optimum ASP and copper sulfate concentration needed to decrease the homopolymerization reaction was noted in the case of GM and AM. The percentage graft yield was found to be highly affected by the various parameters studied, including the initiator, the monomer concentrations, the reaction time, and the temperature. The physical properties of the grafted silk fabric were done including crease recovery angles, abrasion resistance, and moisture regain. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 1743–1747, 2004