Mechanical Characterisation of a New Biodegradable Film

Abstract

Plastics are utilised in almost every manufacturing industry in the world because of the favourable balance of mechanical, technological and cost factors. However, to minimise the environmental impact of plastic materials, researchers are attempting to synthesise new biodegradable polymers that can satisfy also standard requirements on manufacturability and mechanical properties. This paper studies a new material where an aliphatic-aromatic biodegradable component is included in a polyester matrix. For that purpose, microbiological tests, manufacturability tests and mechanical tests are carried out. In particular, thin films are exposed to the attack of spore colonies to check if the new material is fully biodegradable and compostable. Material formability in fashion of blown films is investigated for different volume fractions of biodegradable component added into the formula. Mechanical behaviour of the new material is then assessed by carrying out tensile tests. Experimental results demonstrate that thin films of the new material can be produced using the standard technologies currently available. Mechanical properties are better than those possessed by traditional non-biodegradable plastics like polyethylene.