Influence of chemical surface modification on the properties of biodegradable jute fabrics - polyester amide composites

The chemical surface modifications of jute fabrics involving bleaching, dewaxing, alkali treatment, cyanoethylation and vinyl grafting are made in view of their use as reinforcing agents in composites based on a biodegradable polyester amide matrix, BAK 1095. The effect of different fibre surface treatments and fabric amounts on the performance of resulting composites are investigated. The mechanical properties of composites like tensile and bending strengths increase as a result of surface modification. Among all modifications, alkali treatment and cyanoethylation result in improved properties of the composites. The tensile strength of BAK is increased by more than 40% as a result of reinforcement with alkali treated jute fabrics. SEM investigations show that the surface modifications improve the fibre-matrix interaction. From degradation studies we find that after 15 days of compost burial about 6% weight loss is observed for BAK whereas cyanoethylated and alkali treated jute-BAK composites show about 10% weight loss. The loss of weight as well as the decrease of bending strength of degraded composites is more or less directly related. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.