Due to the extremely inert surface of polyester (PET) fabric, a toxic and traditional resorcinol-formaldehyde-latex (RFL) dipping solution is always necessary in the rubber composite industry. Unfortunately, other effective methods for fabric surface treatment are in urgent need to improve the poor bonding interface between the fabric and the rubber matrix. In our study, a facile way to modify PET fabric was developed. Specifically, the fabric was treated by an alkaline solution and a coupling agent with magnetic agitation. Afterwards, the treated fabric/rubber composites were prepared through a co-vulcanization process. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize the surface chemical composition of the modified fabrics. The adhesion behavior was analyzed by the peel test. The results showed that the fabric surface was successfully grafted with a coupling agent, and the peel strength reached 9.8 N/mm after KH550 treatment, which was an increase if 32% compared with that of the original fabric/rubber composite. In addition, the vulcanization rate and interfacial fracture mechanism are also researched.

In this paper, a novel resorcinol-formaldehyde-free and environmentally friendly adhesives for polyester (PET) fiber impregnation treatment were compounded successfully. First, a network structure was formed by reacting micromolecular and water-soluble glycerol triglycidyl ether (GLTE) and triethylenetetramine (TETA). Then, this was mixed with latex in order to prepare an impregnation solution glycerol triglycidyl ether-triethylenetetramine-butyropyridine latex system (GTL), which can replace the toxic components (resorcinol and formaldehyde) of the resorcinol-formaldehyde-latex (RFL) impregnation system. Similarly, the macromolecular epoxy resin E-51-triethylenetetramine-butyropyridine latex system (ETL) and the traditional RFL impregnation system were also prepared in order to compare with the GTL. Further, the reaction conditions of the impregnation system, the surface chemical composition and interfacial properties were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and peeling strength, respectively. The results showed that the peeling adhesion performance between the GTL-modified PET fabric and the rubber (38.5% higher than that of the ETL impregnation solution) was comparable to that of the RFL impregnation system because of micromolecular and more active GLTE. This study provides new insights into the interface design of PET/rubber composites and will facilitate the development of PET/rubber composites.