Functionalization of Textiles with Thermoresponsive Polymers

Functionalization of textiles with thermoresponsive polymers is the aim of this research work. Therefore, suitable textile substrates had been selected and characterized with the aid of a skin model regarding the water vapor resistance. A novel modified cup method was optimized for detecting the thermoresponsive behavior of the synthesized polymer coatings. Using free-radical polymerization allows synthesizing thermoresponsive copolymers with different properties, e.g. differing lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs). Knife coating was found to be a suited method for the application of thermoresponsive polymer layers matching the pore sizes of the textile substrates. The monomer ratio in thermoresponsive copolymers could be determined by Raman spectroscopy as alternative to NMR, and correlated with the LCST. Investigating the repeatability of the thermoresponsive switching behavior, control of haptics and hygrothermal characterization of local properties such as thickness and elasticity were identified as future tasks.