The effect of natural rubber and glycerol addition on the mechanical performance of Tacca leontopetaloides biopolymer was investigated in this paper. The samples were formulated by varying blend ratios of latex natural rubber to glycerol; 40/30 (GM1), 50/5.85 (GM2), 60/30 (GM3), 40/10 (GM4) and 50/20 (GM5). The samples (GMs) were compounded by using two roll mill machine followed by vulcanization process with the presence of stearic acid and sulphur that act as curing agent. The sheet formed was cut into desired sizes, based on the analysis conducted. The mechanical performance of GMs was investigated by conducting tensile test, morphological structural analysis and water absorption test. The mechanical properties of GM2 showed a high tensile strength with low Young’s modulus compared to other GMs, thus indicating that GM2 was the superior combination of natural rubber to glycerol blend ratio. This, therefore, may be applied for the development of biopolymer with the properties of thermoplastic elastomer.
The effect of 10, 30 and 50 % volume of Olein oil, Glycerol and Crude Palm Oil (CPO) as plasticizer on the thermal performance of biopolymer has been investigated in this paper. The biopolymer was developed from a new source of starch,Tacca leontopetaloides, and natural rubber by using two roll-mill. Changes in functional groups and thermal performance of formulated bio-Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) were analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA). Increased volume of Olein oil and glycerol resulted to increasing strength of hydrogen bonding in the intermolecular TPEs, therefore it has high thermal resistant towards high temperature. Conversely, increased volume of CPO decreased the strength of hydrogen bonding in structural starch and CPO therefore TPE with CPO shows high degradability which possess up to 100 % weight reduction at 500 0C.
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