Water-repellent improvement of polyester fiber via radio frequency plasma treatment with argon/hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) at atmospheric pressure

This work reports the formation of water-repellent surface on polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) fiber via plasma polymerization at atmospheric pressure. PET fiber was treated by employing a radio frequency (RF) plasma in a mixture of argon gas and gas-phase hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO). The surface morphologies and the chemical functional groups of plasma-treated fibers were characterized by a scanning electron microscopy, a Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, and an energy dispersive spectrometer. The water repellency was also characterized by comparing with American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) standard spray test chart.