Absorption of Water at Ambient Temperature and Steam in Wood–Polymer Composites Prepared from Agrowaste and Polystyrene S. MISHRA, J. B. NAIK Department of Chemical Technology, North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon-425 001, India Received 16 June 1997; accepted 17 October 1997 ABSTRACT: Hemp, banana, and agave fibers were employed for the preparation of wood–polymer composites using polystyrene in the ratio of 50 : 50 w/w. These fibers were esterified with maleic anhydride (MA) and the effect of MA was studied on the absorption of water at ambient temperature and steam in wood – polymer composites made from said fibers and polystyrene. The absorption of water increases with increase in time from 2 to 30 h in all fiber composites. The maximum absorption of water was found in hemp fiber composites, and the minimum in agave fiber composites. The MA- esterified fiber composites showed less absorption of water than did the untreated fiber composites. Steam absorption in MA-treated and untreated fiber composites is higher than the water absorption in the respective fiber composites. Untreated fiber com- posites show more absorption of steam in comparison to MA-treated fibers composites.  1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 68: 681–686, 1998 Key words: wood – polymer composites; polystyrene; banana; hemp; agave; fiber ; ma- leic anhydride; absorption; steam; water INTRODUCTION lumens of wood but do not usually penetrates the cell wall. 2 Several reports are available in the lit- erature 3–6 where maleic anhydride (MA) was In our earlier research article, 1 we studied the effect of the absorption of steam and water at am- used as an effective compatibilizer for wood fiber – polyolefin composites. In the present study, MA bient temperature on Novolac and banana, hemp, and agave fiber composites. The absorption of is used as a compatibilizer for polystyrene – fiber (banana, hemp, and agave) composites and the steam is more than that of water due to the higher penetration of steam. The organic synthetic mate- swelling behavior ( steam and water absorption ) is studied with and without MA in fiber–polysty- rials are less compatible with fibers due to that it becomes a mixture of two components rather than rene composites. a composite in which component interaction ex- ists. The methyl methacrylate and styrene mono- mers are polymerized in situ by introducing wood EXPERIMENTAL with monomers which are effective in filling the Polystron 678 SF1 having a specific gravity of 1.05 Correspondence to: S. Mishra. and an MFI of 15 g / 10 min is used for the prepara- Contract grant sponsor: North Maharashtra University. tion of fiber – polymer composites. This sample Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 68, 681 – 686 ( 1998 )  1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 0021-8995/98 / 040681-06 was obtained form Polychem, Mumbai. The fibers 681 8e2b 5082 / 8E2B$$5082 02-23-98 10:20:51 polaas W: Poly Applied