Chemical modification of jute fibers. II: A study on the Fe²⁺/H₂O₂‐initiated graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate, acrylonitrile, and acrylamide onto jute fibers

The study of graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate, acrylonitrile, and acrylamide onto both defatted and bleached jute fibers using the ferrous ammonium sulfate / H 2 O 2 redox initiator system has been made. To determine the optimum conditions of grafting, the effects of concentrations of ferrous ammonium sulfate, monomer, H 2 O 2 ; time and temperature on percentage of graft yield have been studied. Acrylamide was found to graft onto the fiber only at a fixed ferrous ammonium ion concentration (5 × 10 −4 M ). Kinetic studies showed that the rates of grafting follow the second‐order mechanism. The activation energies of the reactions were found to be 3.351 and 2.53 kcal/mol in the methyl methacrylate and acrylonitrile systems, respectively. The grafted fibers have been characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, IR spectroscopy, and XRD studies.