Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.48, No.20, 9338-9345, 2009
Some Physical Properties and Structure Determination of Vinyl Monomer-Grafted Antheraea assama Silk Fiber
Vinyl monomer was used in aqueous medium with Ce-IV initiator of chemical modification of Antheraea assama silk fiber at different reaction conditions. The rate of grafting (%) was evaluated as a function of the concentration of monomer (AAm) and initiator (Ce-IV). The graft copolymerization of silk-fibroin with vinyl monomer (acryl amide) were characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and UV-vis spectroscopy (UV). Thermal analysis was done by thermogravimetric (TG), differential thermogravimetry (DTG). and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The kinetic parameters Were also Studied using Coats and Redfern method with Fortran 77 computer programming. The structural changes of the silk molecule, grafted with vinyl monomer, were studied in relation to the weight gain and X-ray diffraction curves. Moreover, the grafted products were further evaluated to see the improvement in water staining, water retention capacity, and also tensile properties.