PROPERTY EVALUATION OF BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC USING BREADFRUIT PULP (Artocarpus altilis)

The study was conducted with the aim to evaluate the potential of breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) pulp starch-based bioplastic. Physical properties such as thickness and specific gravity and mechanical properties such as tensile strength, percentage elongation at break, water absorption and biodegradability were observed. In addition, estimated economic value of the sheet were also computed.

Breadfruit pulp starch bioplastic was produced using different starch-glycerin ratio. For this study, four different starch-glycerin ratios were used. The thickness and specific gravity of the sheet does not vary with the amount of glycerin and starch content. The 25:15 starch-glycerin ratio exhibit the highest tensile strength value of 1.44MPa. Since the addition of glycerin decreases the value of tensile strength and increases the elongation at break, and biodegradability. The 15:25 starch-glycerin ratio presented the lowest tensile strength of 0.67MPa. Moreover, it also shows the highest elongation at break of 1.33%, water absorption of 11.22% and biodegradability of 59.45%. Provided the results in this study of biodegradable plastic, the 25:15 starch- glycerin ratio would be the most suitable for it has high tensile strength and low water absorption.