Patent ID: 6939903

Claim:
A process for preparing a composite material consisting essentially of the steps of: A) sizing a natural fiber with a reactive organosilane; B) mixing the sized natural fiber with a high density polyethylene resin; and C) adding a functionalized polyolefin coupling agent to the mixture of the sized natural fiber and the high density polyethylene resin to provide said composite material; wherein the functionalized polyolefin coupling agent is selected from the group consisting of maleic anhydride modified polypropylenes having a weight average molecular weight in the range of from about 20,000 to about 300,000 and comprising from about 0.6 to 310 moles of maleic anhydride per mole of polymer and maleic anhydride modified high density polyethylenes having a weight average molecular weight in the range of from about 20,000 to about 300,000 and comprising from about 0.6 to 310 moles of maleic anhydride per mole of polymer.