Environmental and physical properties of thermoplastic cassava Starch-Beeswax reinforced with cogon grass fiber

R Mohamad Faudzi, Raja Mohamad Fareeq (2019) Environmental and physical properties of thermoplastic cassava Starch-Beeswax reinforced with cogon grass fiber. Project Report. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Nowadays, plastic-based materials are being widely used for commercial and household purposes but, it has become a threat to the environment around the world. However, the development of biodegradable polymer from renewable resources has been promoted by increasing environmental awareness to replace conventional non-biodegradable polymer in various applications. Biodegradable polymer has attracted a lot of attention because of their environmentally friendly and sustainable to nature. Starch is an example of biodegradable polymer because of their advantage such as low cost, non-toxicity, biodegradability and availability to replace synthetic polymer in plastics industries. Unfortunately, starch has limitations to commercial because of highly moisture sensitivity and limited mechanical properties. Wax is a hydrophobic organic material with medium chain length and has potential to be used to improve to the properties of starch. Cogon grass (Imperata Cylindrica) is the most abundant green short plant which grows wildly in the rain forests of tropical countries and have no economic rate for agriculture. This waste has potential application to be used as reinforcement material for producing biodegradable polymer composite. In this study, blending thermoplastic cassava starch (TPCS) with beeswax as a matrix and using cogon grass fiber with different amount (10,20,30 and 40 wt.%) as reinforcement to enhance the properties of TPCS/Beeswax. Consequently, TPCS/Beeswax reinforced with cogon grass fibre composites were developed by using dry mixing and hot press method at 145°C for 1 hour. Hence, the objective of this research is to study the environmental and physical properties of the substance when mixed as composites. The physical properties of TPCS/Beeswax reinforced with cogon grass fiber were evaluated. The result show that the moisture and water uptake of the sample decrease when the cogon grass fiber loading increase. Besides, the thickness swelling result was affected during the testing because of the delamination and disintegration of the specimen and caused irregular results. The soil burial test has been done to observe the biodegradation of the TPCS/Beeswax cogon grass fiber composite on the environmental properties. The weight of the sample decrease for 2 and 4 weeks of burial. It shows that the higher the fiber load, the longer time taken for sample to degrade. Overall, the finding from the current study demonstrated that TPCS/Beeswax reinforced with cogon grass fiber has shown improvement in characteristic compared to original material. In conclusion, TPCS/Beeswax reinforced with cogon grass fiber composite are potential alternative material for biodegradable product i.e. disposable biodegradable tray packaging application.

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