Production of Biodegradable Plastics from Sago Fibers

Main Article Content

Sutthisa Konruang
Karakade Kaewyai
Thawatchai Tepnual
Marisa Chatwannasit

Abstract

Nowadays, polymeric materials have been widely used due to their advantage properties such as lightweight, high strength, and chemical resistance. However, the polymers cause environmental pollution problem because most of them are non-biodegradable. Therefore, this research purposed to investigate the production and properties of biodegradable plastic produced from sago fibers using the commercial
cassava starch as a binder. The biodegradable plastic was produced by hot compression process at temperature of 150 °C with 500 psi pressure and holding for 15 min. The ratios between sago fibers and the binder were 1:1, 6:4, 7:3, 8:2, 9:1, and 1:0 by weight. The mechanical and physical properties of all samples were characterized. The results indicated that the fiber content increase, density and tensile strength decreased. The sago fibers to binder at the ratio of 1:1 by weight showed the optimum tensile strength of 4.24 ± 0.92 MPa. In contrast, water absorption of the fibers increased due to the fiber created the voids in the samples, while the hardness of all samples were similar. In addition, the samples were in landfills for 28 days in order to biodegradability test. The sample prepared form sago fibers to binder ratio of 1:0 by weight exhibited the highest degradability. From the study, it can be concluded that sago fibers can be prepared as biodegradable plastic for the future application.

Article Details

Section
Research Articles

References

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