Enzymatic hydrophobization of jute fabrics and its effect on the mechanical and interfacial properties of jute/PP composites

In this work, a hydrophobic surface of lignocellulosic jute fabric was achieved via the laccase-mediated grafting \nof octadecylamine (OA) on lignin moieties of jute aiming to improve the interfacial compatibility with the hydrophobic \npolypropylene (PP) resins in the fiber-reinforced composites. Firstly, the surface and total elemental compositions of the \nmodified jute fabrics were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and elemental analysis, respectively. \nThe increases in the surface C/O ratio and total nitrogen content of jute fabrics after the laccase/OA treatment indicated that \nOA molecules were successfully grafted onto the jute surface mediated by laccase. The grafting percentage of OA on jute \nfabrics was 0.96%. The surface hydrophobicity of jute fabrics with static contact angle of 112.5°, advancing angle of 116.4° \nand receding angle of 42.7° supported the presence of nonpolar alkyl chains on the jute surface after the laccase-mediated \nOA-grafting. The tensile strength, tensile modulus as well as the elongation at break of the hydrophobized jute/PP composites \nwere increased. The fracture surface of the composites became neat and the jute fibers on the section surface were surrounded \nby PP resins closely, which suggested better interfacial adhesion between the jute reinforcement and the PP resin.