Mechanical Properties and Biodegradability of Polylactic Acid/Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene with Cellulose Particle Isolated from Nypa Fruticans Husk

Abstract

Polylactic acid is a biodegradable polymer derived from renewable resources, showing potentials in replacing traditional petroleum-based polymers, yet its brittleness limits its applications. Thus, blending polylactic acid with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene as well as incorporation of fillers were used to enhance the mechanical and biodegradability properties of polylactic acid by extrusion compounding. The aims of this study to produce and investigate PLA/ABS blend incorporated with natural filler, NFH and IC to improve the properties pf PLA/ABS blends. Two types of fillers used were Nypa fruticans husk and isolated cellulose from Nypa fruticans husk which was obtained by using Soxhlet extraction. Transform Infrared spectroscopy analysis was used to characterize and verified the extracted substance was isolate cellulose. Tensile, impact and biodegradation test were conducted to investigate the mechanical and biodegradability properties. The optimum blend ratio for polylactic acid/acrylonitrile was 75/25 php base on previous studies, and it was found that the incorporation of both fillers, Nypa fruticans husk and isolated cellulose from Nypa fruticans husk had decreased the tensile strength, elongation at break and impact strength of the composite however increased the Young’s Modulus and biodegradation weight loss. Meanwhile, at similar filler content, the tensile strength, Young’s modulus and biodegradation weight loss of polylactic acid/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene blend incorporated with isolated cellulose were higher value compared to polylactic acid/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene blend incorporated Nypa fruticans husk. Furthermore, morphological studies showed a well-coated filler by matrix and reduction of filler pull out when isolated cellulose was incorporated in polylactic acid/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene blend. Therefore, it was found that the incorporation of isolated cellulose in polylactic acid/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene blend, shows higher mechanical and biodegradation properties than polylactic acid/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene blend incorporated with Nypa fruticans husk.