Renewable Food Packaging from Pla-Kenaf Fibre Biocomposite
Every year more than 100,000,000 polyethylene terephtalate (PET) bottles are used in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Out of this gigantic figure, 85,000,000 PET bottles end up as garbage and caused the landfills to be dumped by the PET bottle toxic wastes that leach into the soil. This may pollut...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Conference Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ddms.usim.edu.my/handle/123456789/6215 |
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| Summary: | Every year more than 100,000,000 polyethylene terephtalate (PET) bottles are used in
Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Out of this gigantic figure, 85,000,000 PET bottles end
up as garbage and caused the landfills to be dumped by the PET bottle toxic wastes that
leach into the soil. This may pollute and endangers our environment particularly our
drinking water. Hence, the driving force of this project is to minimize the dependence on
non-degradable plastic packaging by developing alternative material made of polylactic
acid (PLA) and kenaf fibre (KF). PLA-KF biocomposite was extruded and then injection
moulded for mechanical characterization. Tensile properties and flexural properties
significantly improved at 20 wt% kenaf fibre content. Scanning electron micrograph of
tensile fracture specimen has revealed the interaction between fibre and matrix, which
supported the increment in mechanical properties. Thermal analysis by means of
differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) shows that the amourphous state of PLA was
remain unchanged with kenaf fibre content and imply that kenaf fibre does not facilitating
nucleation of PLA. From dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), storage modulus (E') of the
biocomposite is higher as compared to unreinforced PLA, whereas the mechanical loss
factor (tan 6) decreases with kenaf fibre content which associated to the compatibility of
PLA matrix and kenaf fibre. This could suggest that kenaf fibre is a viable source that may
be incorporated into PLA to reduce mass of the end product and considerably reduced the
cost of raw materials. |
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