Effects of polyether siloxane surfactant on the hydrophilic capacity of polypropylene films

Abstract To evaluate the hydrophilic capacity, polypropylene and surfactant (polyether siloxane) samples were extruded in the proportions of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 3.0 (wt%) and films were obtained in a heated press. The samples were submitted to measurements of contact angle, surface tension, melt flow index and surface roughness. The results indicated that increasing surfactant content promoted better wettability and consequently higher hydrophilicity. Using water, the increase in the surfactant content reduced the contact angle (92.58° to 68.10°) and increased the surface tension (26.7 to 56.9 mN.m-1). However, with ethylene glycol, increasing the surfactant content promoted a small variation on the contact angle (59.14° to 65.10°) and on the surface tension (5.5 to 5.0 mN.m-1). The surfactant promoted a slight change in the melt flow index but not affected the roughness of the samples.