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Jute yarns soaked for 30 min in 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) ϩ MeOH solutions at different proportions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]] were irradiated in situ with a UV lamp for different periods. The treated jute yarns that were washed in acetone after the irradiation to remove the unused excess monomer HEMA gained about 10% polymer loading with enhanced tensile strength (80%) and elongation (95%). The tenacity was not further increased by incorporation of a minute amount (1%) of novel additives into the HEMA ϩ MeOH solutions, but elongation was enhanced up to 140% when the additive urethane acrylate (1%) was mixed with the solution.

SYNOPSISWood plastic composites ( WPC) of simul were prepared by gamma radiation using butylacrylate (BA) and methylmethacrylate (MMA) as the monomer and methanol as the swelling agent at 9 : 1 ( v / v ) ratio. IR spectra of simul, bulk polymer of BA (or MMA) film, and WPC of different polymer loadings ranging from 18 to 115% were studied. Increase of the characteristic peak intensity at 1735 cm-' (C = 0 vibration for acetyl groups) over that of 1620 cm-' (conjugated aryl carbonyl groups) along with the increase of polymer loading of simul with the monomer indicates that the graft copolymerization took place between the monomer and the simul wood matrix. 0 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. I NTRO D UCTl 0 NRecently many authors reported on the wood plastic composites formation using different monomers. Synergistic yields of polymer loading were also reported in the presence of additives.',2 Analysis of composites by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed the graft copolymerization of the monomer methylmethacrylate (MMA) with the wood m a t r i~.~ IR spectroscopy is known to elucidate functional groups and linkages in any chemical structure analysis. Recently wood polymer composites of Geronggang, a tropical hard wood of Malaysia were analysed by FTIR spectroscopy.4 It was observed that graft copolymerization occurred with the wood components and acrylonitrile and styrene, but not with MMA. The purpose of the present work is to study the IR spectra of the simul, a soft wood of Bangladesh, and its composites with n -butylacrylate (BA) and MMA in order to determine, in further support of X-ray diffraction and SEM analysis, the extent of copolymerization of simul with BA and MMA.

Jute yarns treated with MMA ϩ MeOH solutions were irradiated either with Co-60 gamma source or with UV radiation. In gamma radiation, polymer loading of MMA (methyl methacrylate) onto jute increased quite substantially, but the strength of the composite decreases sharply after 15% polymer loading. The gamma-treated jute samples were very brittle. On the other hand, jute yarns irradiated in situ under UV radiation was found to be grafted with MMA. The tensile strength of the UV-cured jute yarn composite increases with an increase of grafting level, in contrast to the behavior observed with the gamma-irradiated jute composite samples. The tensile properties of the composites can be further enhanced by the incorporation of certain additives and coadditives into MMA ϩ MeOH solutions. This opens diverse applications for jute materials.

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A Biopol-jute composite (BJC) was prepared using a hot-press treatment by reinforcing the Biopol polymer with hessian cloth (jute fabrics) placed in between the layers of Biopol polymer films. Both the tensile and bending strengths of the composite increased substantially, in comparison to the pure Biopol. Jute fabrics were treated with different additives to improve the composite properties. Among them, 2-ethyl hexyl acrylate (3%), y-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxy silane (2%), and trimethoxy vinyl silane (0.5%) were found to be effective in enhancing tensile properties up to 80% with respect to Biopol. Mixed additives increased the tensile properties of the composites to some extent but not as much as the single additive did.