Film morphology and orientation of N‐cyclohexyl‐γ‐aminopropyl polydimethylsiloxane

A novel polysiloxane softener bearing N‐cyclohexyl‐γ‐aminopropyl side groups (ASO‐702) is synthesized by copolymerization of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane with N‐cyclohexyl‐γ‐aminopropyl methyldimethoxylsilane and hexamethyldisiloxane. Chemical structure and film morphology of the synthesized polysiloxane are characterized and investigated by IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, SEM and atomic force microscope (AFM). The results of the experiment indicate that ASO‐702 can form a hydrophobic film on both a cotton fiber and a silicon‐wafer surface. At scales > 100 nm, the ASO‐702 shows a relative smooth‐resin film on the treated fabric/fiber surface. But as the observation rule decreases to 2 nm, the molecular scale, the ASO‐702 film exhibits an inhomogeneous structure and uneven morphology in its AFM images. There are many low or high peaks in ASO‐702 topography. Consequently in 2 µm² scanning field, the root mean square roughness of ASO‐702 film is 0.246 nm, which is 3.05 times rougher as compared with that of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.