Surface treatment of PET fiber by EB-irradiation-induced graft polymerization and its effect on adhesion in natural rubber matrix

Aiming to develop a high performance fiber-reinforced natural rubber (NR) without using resorcinol formaldehyde latex (RFL) adhesives of environmental load substances, a special technique using electron beam (EB) irradiation-induced graft polymerization was applied to high-modulus polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers. Although PET is chemically inert, acrylate functional silane could be graft-polymerized onto the PET fiber surface by this special technique. The composite of NR and grafted PET fibers indicated a linear increase in the initial modulus with the fiber content. The fiber reinforced rubber with a good performance was obtained in the system of NR and grafted PET fibers. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.