Study on the Preparation of Allyl-modified Starch in Isopropyl/Water Medium for Warp Sizing

A new method for the pretreatment of starch by etherification was developed to eliminate the problems of lower grafting efficiency associated with the preparation of starch graft copolymers as warp sizing agents. The etherification of starch with allyl chloride was investigated in order to effectively enhance the reaction efficiency. The tecimological variables of the reaction considered for evaluating the etherification included sodium hydroxide amount, water content in water-isopropyl alcohol medium, allyl chloride concentration, reaction temperature and reaction time. The experimental result demonstrated that the variables considered showed evident effect on the reaction efficiency. For the etherification, a condition of 20% for the water content, 1.5：1 for the molar ratio of sodium hydroxide to allyl chloride, and at 30℃ under 24 h reaction is sufficient to retain the reaction efficiency above 50%. Furthermore, a contrast test demonstrated that the graft efficiency can be increased with the etherification pretreatment.