Biodegradable Plastic

Tan, Chong Hau (2011) Biodegradable Plastic. Final Year Project (Other), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

Text TanChongHauFT.zip Restricted to Registered users only Download (55MB)

Abstract

Polymeric material is material which contains many chemically bonded parts or units that are bonded together to form a flexible solid. Biodegradable polymer is a polymer that is capable to break itself into fragments or simple structure naturally without harming environment. The emergence of biodegradable plastics was started after people realized the problems of synthetic polymers disposal. Hence, polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), and polyglycolic acid (PGA) are examples of biodegradable polymers had been produced and invented. Furthermore, there are some polymers that may exist naturally such as carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids and so forth. This project is about to introduce new way to produce a biodegradable plastic that is still not commercially promoted in today's market. By verifying its properties through tensile test, degradation test, and hardness test. The results of this biodegradable plastic showed that biodegradable plastic has potential to replace other biodegradable plastics. Mechanical properties of materials always become a major concern in materials selection. Materials with excellent mechanical properties are preferred in today's market. In this project, the mechanical properties of biodegradable plastic are still under expectation and it should be further improved. Hardness test was conducted by using Shore A scale. The result showed that hardness of this biodegradable plastic is suitable for making domestic products. One of the application that recommended is mouse pad. UV light degradation test and water immersion test were conducted in this project. The result showed that biodegradable plastic may degrade at high rate when it exposes to moisture environment. Thus, this biodegradable plastic is not suitable used in high moisture environment.