Abstract
The mechanochemical polymerization of methyl methacrylate initiated by the grinding of rice husk powder was carried out in order to utilize natural materials more effectively as well as to reduce the environmental load. The rice husk powder was first ground with a bantam mill to a median size of around 160μm. The polymerization was performed by grinding the rice husk powder further in methyl methacrylate monomer using a vibrating ball mill. As a result, the composites of rice husk and polymethyl methacrylate were formed. The number average molecular weights of the resulting polymer were 2.7×105 to 4.4×105, which were close to those of the polymer synthesized by the conventional radical polymerization. The 1H-NMR spectra measurement revealed that the polymerization initiated by grinding the rice husk powder proceeded with radical reaction mechanism.
