Effect of Microcrystalline Cellulose Reinforcement on Mechanical and Water Barrier Properties of Sugar Palm Starch Biocomposite Films

Mohd Sapuan Salit

No 2018-1, Agriculture and Development Discussion Paper Series from Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA)

Abstract: Novel biocomposite film materials, 100 percent environmentally friendly with microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) as reinforcement in sugar palm starch (SPS)-based thermoplastic matrix were prepared through casting method. The cellulose content in the composite films varied from 0 to 10 percent w/w. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM), the morphology of the composite films was analyzed. This work is focused on the effects of MCC content on the mechanical and water vapor permeability (WVP) properties of the composites. Incorporation of the MCC to the SPS matrix increased the tensile strength, while the elongation at break decreased with MCC loading. The tensile strength value for the composite with 10 percent w/w of MCC was found maximum (11.30 MPa). Adding 1 percent MCC content significantly reduced the WVP of the composite film by 66.41 percent compared with the neat SPS film. Overall, the incorporation of MCC in the SPS-based films improved the mechanical strength and water barrier properties of the environmentally friendly composite films.

Keywords: sugar palm starch; biodegradable films; food packaging; environmental pollution; microcrystalline cellulose; biocomposite film materials; Southeast Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env and nep-sea
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in the SEARCA Agriculture and Development Discussion Paper Series

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.searca.org/pubs/discussion-papers?pid=399 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sag:seadps:2018:399

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Agriculture and Development Discussion Paper Series from Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Benedict A. Juliano ().