Studies have been carried out on chemical treatments of jute fibers in order to hinder moisture absorption, which causes incompatibility with a non-polar polymer, and to increase the surface roughness for mechanical interlocking. The objective of this research is to improve the interfacial adhesion between jute fibers and polypropylene by oxidative treatments. On this basis, jute fibers were treated with potassium dichromate (PD), potassium permanganate (PM) and sodium perborate trihydrate (SP). Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy were used to characterize jute fibers. The effects of chemical treatments were also revealed by assessment of moisture absorbability, yarn tensile properties and interfacial shear strength with polypropylene. FTIR and XPS analyses confirmed oxidative modification of jute fibers using any of the surface treatments. It was observed that the proportion of O=C groups increased, whereas that of O–H groups decreased after oxidative modifications. Tensile strength and elasticity modulus results decreased after oxidative treatments, whereas PD, PM and SP enhanced the interfacial shear strength values by 25, 61 and 71 %, respectively. Only SP treatment influenced moisture absorbability results significantly. The surface roughness of untreated jute fibers shows increments after chemical treatments due to partial removal of surface cementings. According to the findings obtained from surface characterization methods and physical tests, the highest interfacial adhesion with better compatibility with polypropylene was achieved after SP treatment by providing the highest surface roughness values and hydrophobic character of jute fiber.
