IR studies of wood plastic composites

Abstract

Abstract Wood 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 −1 (CO vibration for acetyl groups) over that of 1620 cm −1 (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. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.