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Studies on dimensional stability and thermal properties of rubber wood chemically modified with styrene and glycidyl methacrylate
Author(s) -
Devi Rashmi R.,
Maji T. K.,
Banerjee A. N.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.20657
Subject(s) - glycidyl methacrylate , materials science , thermogravimetric analysis , natural rubber , thermal stability , swelling , composite material , styrene , polymer , styrene butadiene , monomer , polymerization , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , methacrylate , copolymer , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , engineering
Rubber wood ( Hevea brasiliensis ) was impregnated with styrene and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as the crosslinking monomer. After impregnation, the polymerization was accomplished by catalyst heat treatment. Water uptake (%) and water vapor exclusion (%) of the rubber wood were found to be improved on treatment. Dimensional stability expressed in terms of volumetric swelling in water vapor (90% relative humidity) as well as in liquid water and water repellent effectiveness (WRE) of the treated samples were determined and also found to be improved. The wood–polymer interaction was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. Thermal properties of untreated and treated wood samples were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetery (DSC) and an improvement in thermal stability was observed for the wood–polymer composites. The improvement in properties observed as more with styrene–GMA (1:1) combination. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 1938–1945, 2004