The Modification of Wild Silk Fibres with Methacrylamide

Wild silk and cultivated mulberry silk fibres have been graft copolymerised with methacrylamide, and the changes in the dyeing behaviour when dyeing with the levelling acid and milling acid dyes investigated. The tensile properties of the fibres and their durability during laundering have also been examined. The amount of the levelling acid dye adsorbed by all the fibres decreased with increasing polymer add-on, while the amount of milling acid dye adsorbed by the mulberry silk fibres was almost unchanged by the graft treatment. The breaking loads of the fibres were almost unchanged whereas rigidity of the fibres increased following graft treatment. The tensile properties of the grafted silk fibres were not diminished by laundering at polymer add-on levels greater than 50 %