Deposition characteristics of ureido silane ethanol solutions onto E- glass fibres

The determination of the adsorption and the deposition characteristics of a silane monomer, which does not hydrolyze until it contacts the glass surface can be done by examining the effect of ultra dry solvent careers. Most of the publications to date concentrate on amine and vinyl silanes. Many industrial processes use silanes with alternative organic functional groups, this study examines an industrial silane monomer with ureido functionality. The determination of how these monomeric, unhydrolyzed silane solutions deposit, will improve our knowledge of the deposition behaviour of the much more complicated heterogeneous aqueous solutions. We have shown using diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infra red (DRIFT) how ureido silane deposition from ethanol results in the silane bonding in the OCH3 down orientation, with the ureido amine functions free for reaction with the polymer matrix. Furthermore, treatment with a series of solvents having solubility parameters which match (a) that of the unhydrolyzed silane monomer and (b) that of the partially hydrolyzed silane monomer can remove different fractions of the deposited silane and result in a certain amount of reorientation of the loosely bound physisorbed layers. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results show that the silane was deposited in patches. Ultimately, precise control of the deposition conditions will determine the orientation of the silane monomer.