EVALUATION OF JACKFRUIT (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) SEED STARCH- BASED BIOPLASTIC with CORN (Zea mays L.) HUSK FIBER REINFORCEMENT

The study aimed to evaluate the potential of jackfruit seed starch-based bioplastic with corn husk fiber reinforcement to replace traditional petroleum-based plastic in the market. Physical properties such as thickness and specific gravity and mechanical properties such as tensile strength, elongation at break, water absorption, and biodegradability were evaluated. Bioplastics with varying amounts of glycerin and starch-fiber ratio were produced and the result was analyzed using a two-factor complete randomized design. The thickness and specific gravity of the sheets vary with fiber and glycerin content. Sheets with higher amount of fiber and glycerin are thicker and has higher specific gravity. Based on the result, reinforced sheets showed improvement in strength over non-reinforced. Treatment 3 (8:2g/g of starch to fiber with 10mL glycerin) exhibited the highest tensile strength of 1.55MPa. The addition of glycerol decreases tensile strength while it increases the elongation at break, water absorption, and biodegradability, Treatment 4 (10:0g/g of starch to fiber with 20mL glycerin) presented the lowest tensile strength of 0.455MPa with the highest elongation at break of 11.40%, water absorption of 73.42% and biodegradability of 69.49%. Hence, fiber reinforcement could help improve the mechanical properties, especially its strength.