Studies on Performance of Acrylonitrile-Pretreated Bamboo-Reinforced Thermosetting Resin Composites

The present study investigates the effect of acrylonitrile treatment of bamboo mats on bamboo-reinforced epoxy and polyester resin composites. Acrylonitrile treatment has been done for 1 and 5 h. The tensile strength and modulus of the composites have been improved with both the resins after acrylonitrile treatment (cyanoethylation) of fibers. Moisture regain decreases significantly on cyanoethylation. Acrylonitrile-pretreated bamboo-reinforced polyester composite decreases the water uptake drastically from 75 to 14%.