The physical and degradation properties of polylactic (PLA)/thermoplastic starch (TPS) blends after TPS modification with citric acid (CA) were investigated. The interfacial adhesion between the PLA and TPS was expected to improve, thus enhancing the physical properties of the PLA/TPS blends. The tensile strength and Young's modulus for PLA/TPS blends at (60/40) and (40/60) blends ratio were found to increase after modification with CA. On the other hand, the elongation at break of the (60/40) blend decreased, while elongation at break of the (40/60) blend increased. Meanwhile, an additional peak at 1721 cm -1 was detected by the FTIR spectroscopic analysis, which indicated that the TPS had chemically interacted with the CA. The biodegradability properties of PLA/TPS blends were also improved after treatment with CA. The deterioration of PLA/TPS blends was attributed to the incorporation of CA; O2 from the soil was attracted to the PLA/TPS blends, thus speeding up the degradation process of the blends.
Polyvinyl alcohol/palm kernel shell powder biocomposites were prepared by using a solution casting method. To enhance the properties, the crosslinking agent glutaraldehyde (GA) was added to the composition. The effect of the crosslinking agent on the biocomposite was studied based on the change in the tensile properties, physical properties, and biodegradability. The optimum GA content was found to be 2 phr because the tensile properties tended to decrease with higher GA contents. The water absorption percentages and water vapour transmissibility decreased until the GA content reached 2 phr and then increased. It was found that the biodegradability of the film decreased when GA was added.
The effect of surface treatment by using silane coupling agent with varying ratio of micro -crystalline cellulose (MCC) on polylactic acid (PLA) / acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) blend system were investigated. The study had focused on the blend modification onto the mechanical, structural, morphological and biodegradability properties of PLA/ABS blends. The study showed that the tensile properties of the PLA/ABS blends were deterioriated with increasing in MCC content. The interfacial adhesion was approach by using silane treatment caused by the incorporation of MCC and coupling agent. According to the results, the addition of MCC and surface treatment showed an increasing better in tensile properties as compared to the standardized counterpart. On top of that, the morphological analysis by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) found out that the interfacial adhesion of MCC was improved in both systems which is with and without silane treatement. Both of the systems was obtained having a weight loss during the soil burial test and the biodegradation process in PLA/ABS/MCC blends as proven in biodegradability analysis.
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