Abstract

Synthesis and characterization of graft copolymerized acrylic acid onto cellulose prepared from sisal fibre

Author(s): T.Hajeeth, K.Vijayalakshmi, T.Gomathi, P.N.Sudha

The extraction of cellulose fromsisal fiber was done using the steamexplosion technique. Four different stages of fiber such as steamexploded fiber, bleached fiber, acid treated fiber and mechanically treated fiber were prepared from sisal fiber to convert it into cellulose. The graft copolymer of the cellulose extracted fromsisal fiber with acrylic acid was synthesized in aqueous solution using ceric ammonium ion as the initiator. The prepared extracted cellulose-g-acrylic acid monomer was characterized with the help of analytical techniques such as FTIR, XRD, TGA and DSC studies. The grafting phenomenon taking place between cellulose and the acrylic acid was proved by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The XRD pattern elucidates the change in crystallinity of the grafted polymeric samples. The results of TGA and DSC studies indicate the enhancement of thermal stability of the polymer upon grafting.