IOTA-EO series of epoxy-terminated polyether silicone oil is a revolutionary dual-active silicone epoxy resin intermediate designed for the high-performance needs of the modern textile industry. This innovative material creates a unique chemical structure by introducing epoxy groups and polyoxyethylene ether segments at both ends of the molecule and embedding linear polysiloxane segments in the middle, which enables it to show excellent performance and wide application potential in the field of textile finishing.


Core advantages of products
The most notable feature of the IOTA-EO series products is its dual-active structural design, which not only retains the excellent properties of traditional epoxy-terminated silicone oils, but also greatly improves the processing performance and application effect of the products by introducing hydrophilic polyether segments. In textile applications, this structural feature is transformed into multiple advantages:


Significant cost-effectiveness: Since the structure already contains hydrophilic polyether segments, there is no need to use expensive ED series polyetheramines in subsequent block polymerization. Only the lower-priced D series polyetheramines, fatty amines or alcoholamines are needed to complete the reaction, reducing the overall production cost by 15-25%.


Outstanding environmental performance: This product only requires 5-20% organic solvent (relative to the mass of end-epoxy polyether silicone oil) during the reaction process, which greatly reduces VOCs emissions and conforms to the current trend of green development in the textile industry. At the same time, the high-content block silicone oil generated by the reaction has good stability, which reduces material loss during the production process.


Wide processing adaptability: The excellent compatibility with organic amines enables it to achieve homogeneous reaction under conditions of a small amount of solvent or even no solvent, and the reaction conversion rate can reach more than 98%, ensuring the high stability of product quality, with batch-to-batch differences of less than 3%.


Strong adjustability of hand feel: By selecting end-epoxy polyether silicone oils of different molecular weights, the performance parameters of the final product can be precisely controlled to achieve customized needs for a variety of hand feel styles from soft and silky to elastic and plump.


Key applications in the textile field
1. Soft finishing of high-end fabrics
IOTA-EO series performs excellently in the soft finishing of natural fibers such as cotton, linen, silk and their blended fabrics. Compared with traditional amino silicone oil, its unique structural design brings multiple improvements:


Persistent hydrophilicity: The introduction of polyether chain segments makes the finished fabric have excellent hydrophilic properties, and the contact angle can be reduced to below 30°, solving the problem of water repellency of fabrics after traditional silicone oil finishing.


Comfortable feel: It can provide different feel options from silky smooth to cashmere-like fluffy, and the durability of the feel is improved by more than 50%, and it can still maintain more than 80% of the initial feel after 20 washes.


Low yellowing properties: The design of the epoxy group makes the yellowing index of the product lower than 1.5 when it is fixed at high temperature, which is particularly suitable for the finishing of white or light-colored high-end fabrics.


2. Development of functional textiles
IOTA-EO products modified by quaternary ammonium have unique advantages in the field of functional textiles:


Antibacterial properties: The antibacterial rate of the quaternary ammonium modified product against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli can reach more than 99%, and it has good washability. The antibacterial rate remains above 90% after 30 washes.


Antistatic function: The polyether chain segment gives the fabric excellent antistatic properties, and the surface resistance can be reduced to below 10^8Ω, meeting the requirements of medical textiles and electronic product cleaning cloths.


Composite function integration: It can simultaneously realize the integration of multiple functions such as softness, antibacterial, and antistatic, reduce processing procedures, and improve production efficiency.


3. Modification of chemical fiber and blended fabrics
For synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon and their blended fabrics, IOTA-EO series products can effectively solve the challenges faced by traditional finishing agents:


Uniform adsorption: The adsorption rate of hydrophobic fibers is increased by more than 30%, solving the problem of uneven adsorption of traditional hydrophilic finishing agents on chemical fibers.


High temperature stability: It can withstand setting temperatures above 200℃ and is suitable for high temperature processing of chemical fiber fabrics.


Improved color fastness: When used as a dye carrier, it can increase the dyeing rate of disperse dyes by 15-20%, while reducing dye migration.


4. Industrial textile reinforcement
In the field of industrial textiles, IOTA-EO series products can significantly improve the performance of substrates:


Resin modification: When used as an epoxy resin additive, it can increase the flexibility of composite materials by 40%, reduce internal stress by 35%, and extend the service life of glass fiber fabric reinforced composite materials.


Interface compatibility: Improve the interfacial bonding between resin and fiber, and increase the peel strength by more than 25%, which is particularly suitable for high-performance applications such as fabrics for wind turbine blades.


Future development trend
As the textile industry develops towards high performance, multi-function, and green environmental protection, the importance of the IOTA-EO series of end-epoxy polyether silicone oils will become increasingly prominent. This product not only meets the current market's dual needs for comfort and functionality of textiles, but its low solvent and low emission characteristics also perfectly fit the sustainable development strategy of the global textile industry. It is expected that in the next five years, the application of this technology in high-end clothing fabrics, medical textiles, smart textiles and other fields will grow at an annual rate of 15-20%, becoming an important innovation direction in the field of textile chemicals.


By continuously optimizing molecular structure design and application technology, the IOTA-EO series of epoxy-terminated polyether silicone oils will continue to provide the textile industry with more efficient, environmentally friendly and multifunctional solutions, and promote the development of textiles towards higher quality.