Biofilm green packaging: characterization and biodegradation studies

Abstract

Low Density Polyethylene was blended with various contents of tapioca starch (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) with addition of compatibilizer, i.e. PE-g-MA and cooking oil as plasticizer. The blends were prepared by co-rotating twin screw extrusion process and characterized by melt flow index (MFI) analysis and tensile test. Tapioca starch based polyethylene biofilms were studied in term of biodegradability by fungi test. The increasing starch content to LDPE blend reduced the MFI values and tensile strength but in 30% and 40% of starch content in tensile strength is higher than control LDPE’s strength due to molecular orientation in sample. However, incorporation of PE-g-MA as compatibilizer increases the mechanical properties of starch based polyethylene blends due to the reaction between maleated PE and starch, thus improves adhesion and reduces slippage at matrix-filler interface. The increasing of TS also increase the water content in film sample, weight loss percentage in TGA, and percentage degradation of LDPE/TS blend film.