Morphological study and biodegradability of PLA/PBAT thin-film reinforced with microcrystalline cellulose from bamboo

Abstract

Recently, awareness of plastic pollution has increased, bringing innovation on new productions to be environmentally friendly. Various polymers have been used in these studies to analyse the suitability to produce thin films. In this study, poly lactic acid (PLA) and polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) were used as a polymer and were reinforced with microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) to produce thin film. The surface morphology and biodegradability of the thin film were investigated. The properties of degradability of the films were tested through a soil burial test, and the surface morphology after burial were compared to identify the changes. Commercial microcrystalline cellulose (C-MCC) and bamboo microcrystalline cellulose (B -MCC) were blended with polymers at different weight ratio (1%, 3% and 5%) with three different thicknesses (0.4mm, 0.6mm and 0.8mm) to compare the effectiveness on the degradability of the thin film while the PLA/PBAT as a control. The morphological study on the thin film was carried through scanning electron micrographs (SEM), light microscopy (LM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) to observe the dispersion of MCC, surface roughness and topography. Biodegradability test was carried by soil burial for 48 days spam in which at the end of analysis 5% of both microcrystalline cellulose composites recorded high percentage of weight loss. 5% of C-MCC recorded an increased weight loss of 27.36% at the thickness of 0.8, while 5% of B-MCC was observed to have large degradation of 21.59% at 0.4mm thickness. Thus, it is revealed that PLA/PBAT thin-film reinforced with microcrystalline cellulose from bamboo has suitability in producing bio-based plastic.