ANALYSIS OF THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF POLY-LACTIC ACID REINFORCED WITH NATURAL POLYMERS FOR BIODEGRADABLE PACKAGING

Abstract

Over the decades, the world has come to rely on synthetic plastic as the foremost material for packaging, the need to curb dependence on fossil fuel and reduce pollution through plastic waste has fuelled the need to carry out research in the area of biodegradable materials. This research focuses on developing a blend of natural polymers suitable for packaging. Poly Lactic Acid has grown to become one of the foremost natural polymers together with starch and chitosan and this research focuses on creating composite from a blend of the three aforementioned materials that can adequately replace its synthetic counterparts. To determine if the composite will be suitable, its mechanical properties needed to be verified. As such PLA was blended with starch and chitosan which are the two most abundant natural polymers. The mechanical property test carried out was the flexural test, which gives information on the strength and flexibility or stiffness of the composite. The samples were synthesized using the compression molding machine and tested using the ASTM D6272 testing standard. The results proved a reduction in stiffness which was deduced from the reduction in flexural modulus with an acceptable value maximum flexural strength.