This paper presents a comparison on the effects of blending chitin and/or starch with poly(lactic acid) (PLA). Three sets of composites (PLA-chitin, PLA-starch and PLA-chitin-starch) with 92%, 94%, 96% and 98% PLA by weight were prepared. The percentage weight (wt.%) amount of the chitin and starch incorporated ranges from 2% to 8%. The mechanical, dynamic mechanical, thermal and microstructural properties were analyzed. The results from the tensile strength, yield strength, Young's modulus, and impact showed that the PLA-chitin-starch blend has the best mechanical properties compared to PLA-chitin and PLA-starch blends. The dynamic mechanical analysis result shows a better damping property for PLA-chitin than PLA-chitin-starch and PLA-starch. On the other hand, the thermal property analysis from thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) shows no significant improvement in a specific order, but the glass transition temperature of the composite increased compared to that of neat PLA. However, the degradation process was found to start with PLA-chitin for all composites, which suggests an improvement in PLA degradation. Significantly, the morphological analysis revealed a uniform mix with an obvious blend network in the three composites. Interestingly, the network was more significant in the PLA-chitin-starch blend, which may be responsible for its significantly enhanced mechanical properties compared with PLA-chitin and PLA-starch samples.
Reference:
Olaiya, N.G., Surya, I., Oke, P.K., Rizal, S., Ray, S.S., Farayibi, P.K., Hossain, M.S. and Khalil, A. 2019. Properties and characterization of a PLA-chitin-starch biodegradable polymer composite. Polymers, v11, 16pp.
Olaiya, N., Surya, I., Oke, P., Rizal, S., Sadiku, E., Ray, S. S., ... Khalil, A. (2019). Properties and characterization of a PLA-chitin-starch biodegradable polymer composite. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/11288
Olaiya, NG, I Surya, PK Oke, S Rizal, ER Sadiku, Suprakas S Ray, PK Farayibi, MS Hossain, and A Khalil "Properties and characterization of a PLA-chitin-starch biodegradable polymer composite." (2019) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/11288
Olaiya N, Surya I, Oke P, Rizal S, Sadiku E, Ray SS, et al. Properties and characterization of a PLA-chitin-starch biodegradable polymer composite. 2019; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/11288.
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