Marking of cellulose yarn by vinyl monomer grafting

Marking consists of adding a mark on a product for the purpose of its identification. The use of methacrylamide (MAam) and 2-hydroxyethylmetacrylate (HEMA) as markers for cellulose yarn (flax) has been studied. Grafting of a reactive monomer onto cellulose chains has been carried out using a redox system with a chemical initiation technique. The products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. HEMA has been chosen due to its more pronounced characteristic band. The major factors affecting HEMA polymerization, including concentration, reaction time and temperature, were studied to establish the optimum grafting conditions. We note that the grafting does not affect the mechanical properties of the yarn.