Mechanical and biodegradation analysis of thermoplastic starch reinforced nano-biocomposites

Abstract

The aim of the present investigation is to develop and characterize nano-filler reinforced thermoplastic starch (TPS) composites. Both montmorillonite (MMT), and Cloisite 30B are used in different weight percentages as reinforcing filler with TPS by hot compression molding to develop starch-mmt (SM) and starch-cloisite (SC) composites respectively. Fabricated composites were mechanically tested. Composite containing 3 wt% mmt showed tensile strength and tensile modulus of 2.67 MPa and 68.4 MPa respectively X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of nano-composites were analyzed. Biodegradation of composites were carried out in soil burial condition for certain time periods and found that the degradation rate of composites are slow and lost only on an average of 45% of their original weight after 60 days under soil burial condition. Surface topography of degraded samples was studied under scanning electron microscope. As SM and SC composites are biodegradable in nature, these can be utilized as packaging materials, molded articles and other aesthetic products to reduce the use of non degradable synthetic plastic.