| Abstract: | When the flax fibers (machine tow) were treated with KMnO4 solution, MnO2 was deposited over‐all the fiber surface. The amount of MnO2 deposited relied on the KMnO4 concentration. Subjecting the flax‐containing MnO2 to a solution consisting of monomer (acrylic acid, AA) and citric acid, CA (or any acid used in this work) resulted in formation of poly(AA)‐flax graft copolymer. Dependence of the polymer criteria, namely, the total percentage conversion (%TC) and the carboxyl content of the grafted flax fibers on various grafting parameters, viz., concentrations of the redox pair as well as AA, material‐to‐liquor ratio (M/R), duration and temperature of polymerization, kind of the acid and kind of the flax fibers pretreatment was studied systematically. The results indicated that the polymerizability of AA molecules, expressed as %TC (i.e., counting both grafting and homopolymerization) and thence the carboxyl content (i.e., evaluating the extent of AA grafting along the flax backbone) was optimized with the following conditions: AA], 100% (based on weight of flax fibers, owf); CA], 0.4 meq/1 g flax; MnO2], 0.4 meq/1 g flax; polymerization temperature, 40°C; polymerization time, 30 min; and the M/R, 1 : 50. A tentative mechanism for grafting of flax fibers with AA using MnO2‐acid redox system was elucidated. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 3028–3036, 2006 |
