Preparation of anti-wicking polyester fabric/polyvinyl chloride flexible composites and its hygrothermal aging behavior

Polyester fabric/polyvinyl chloride (PET/PVC) flexible composites were widely used in outdoor products such as sports and leisure, advertising and printing due to its light weight, high strength and good processability. However, under extreme weather conditions such as high temperature and high humidity for a long time, it was very easy to decrease the mechanical properties due to water absorption. Therefore, PET fabric was modified by fluorine-containing block copolymer, and then the wicking resistant PET fabric reinforced PVC resin matrix flexible composites (F-PET/PVC) were obtained by roll coating, then, the mechanism of hygrothermal aging was further explored. The results show that the water contact angle of PET fabric increases from 0° to 114.5°, the wicking height of F-PET/PVC decreases by about 94.29%, and the peeling performance decreases by about 15.87%, when the concentration of anti-wicking agent reaches 20 g/L. In addition, the hygrothermal aging test shows that the hygrothermal aging resistance of F-PET/PVC is better than that of PET/PVC, and the interfacial peeling strength and tensile strength loss rate is decreased from 7.41% and 3.61% to 3.08% and 0.48%, respectively. It is expected to provide a reference for the durability design of environmental fabric-reinforced resin matrix composites.