February 2014, Volume 5, No.

1 International Journal of Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Enhancement of Biodegradable Polymer Properties by Physical and Chemical Revisited Method

Zahra M.Esfahan ;SoheilNekoui ; Mohd Halim Shah Bin Ismail * ; Hamed Pourzolfaghar Chemical and Environmental Department, Faculty of Engineering University Putra Malaysia, Serdang,Selangor, Malaysia *Corresponding Authoremail: mshalim@upm.edu.my

Abstract:
Recently, interested in compound production has moved towards using natural polymers as strengthening due to the environmental advantages. The use of Bio-degradable matrices is worth considering since this will result in fully biodegradable compound.In to evaluate the most appropriate array plastic, one has to know the property of available plastics. Since information tends to be dispersed over several sources and are very rare in comparison to the traditional polymer materials, it is the goal of this article to provide an overview of the most relevant property of the range are biodegradable polymeric.A review like the one shown here can provide a helpful guide to establish the best balance between the comparing properties requirements. Keywords: Biopolymers, Biodegradable, thermal properties, glass transaction,

1. Introduction
At present, usage of biopolymers has become vital tool in eco-friendly management because of the large amount of polymers used in many applications as well as other stateof-the-art research area. Biodegradable polymers began to supersede plastics-polymer technology more than 30 years ago for a variety of applications in-*cluding surgical sutures and medical function[1]. Polymeric biomaterials that provide the significant advantage of being able to be broken down and removed after they have served their function, but they also can use as food packaging [2]. Biodegradable polymers are also well known to making food coatings. Other common request is formulation of biodegradable food packaging and mulching film to be used for vegetable crops. These polymers do not need to be extract from refuse and do not have any environmental impact. In order to be used in these applications, the bioplastic must possess specific mechanical and optical performance similar to those of the ordinary plastics, like polyethylene and poly[ethyleneco-(vinyl acetate)]. Concerning durability, biodegradable food packaging and mulch films are made to be return in soil at the end of crop cycle; therefore, durability cannot be compared with conventional plastics. An alternative to plastic films is depicted by biopolymer films, which are made out of renewable resources, and are usually obtained from different resources; (a) natural raw materials, such as starch, cellulose, and protein; (b) chemical synthesis of bio-derived monomers, such as polylactate; and(c) polymers naturally produced by microorganisms, such as polyhydroxybutyrate and polyhydroxyvalerate[3,9]are perceived as being `greener' than synthetic polymers even although the latter may also be biodegradable. Furthermore, biopolymer can also improve the quality of food products. Biopolymer films can also be used as carrier agents for several types of additives.[11,13] The mixture of antimicrobial agents and biopolymer films has been studied, and reviews of this topic have been published by Cha and Chinnan (2004), Rojas-Gra and others (2009), and Gmez-Guilln and others (2009). In these cases, the purpose is to delay or prevent the growth of microorganisms on the surface of product, which can extend shelf life and optimize the safety of packaged foods. One of the main fu-*nctions of food packaging is to protect the food product from food spoilage and to maintain the quality of the packaged food during its shelf life[4]. Other requirements for biodegradable packaging materials, that have direct or indirect contact with the packaged food, have to be fulfilled. In this work acceptable sensory properties, adequate biochemical, physico-chemical, and microbial stability, absence of toxics, and safety is reviewed and compared between several kind of biodegradable food packaging materials and a review of the main important properties of biopolymer films is presented.

2. Materials and Method

Many researchers have been defined and recognized on synthetic polymers and is constituted by specialists on polymer synthesis; structural studies, evaluation of

Enhancement of Biodegradable Polymer Properties by Physical and Chemical Revisited Method

thermal and mechanical properties and studies on biocompatibility and biodegradability[5,6,7,8]. It is mainly involved in the development of biodegradable polymers and the study of degradation processes. There is lots of biodegradable polymer. However, in this study we focused on the important and basic polymers. All these polymers are polyesters. They were selected because of the available data that reported about them[5]. For convenience reasons, in our paper, these polymers will be symbolized by their abbreviations:PLA: Polylactic acid or Polylactide, PGA: Polyglycolic acid or Polyglycolide, PCL: Poly--caprolactone, PHB: Polyhydroxybutyrate. Most of their main physical -*properties are available on table 1. The following properties are more intensively studied: Polymer density (, in g/cm3). Tensile properties: tensile strength (, in MPa), tensilemodulus (E, in GPa) and ultimate strain (, in %). Specific tensile properties are obtained by dividing the original properties by the polymer density, leading to: specific tensile strength (*, in Nm/g) and specific tensile modulus (E*, in kNm/g). Characteristic temperatures: glass transition temperature(Tg, in C) and melt point (Tm, in C).
Table 1, physical properties of selected biopolymers

Properties (gr/cm3) (MPa) E(GPa) (%) *(Nm/g) E*(kNm/g) Tg(0C) Tm(0C)

Limits Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower Upper Lower PLA 1.21 1.25 21 60 0.35 3.5 2.5 6 16.8 48.0 0.28 2.80 45 60 150 162

type of polymer PGA PCL 1.50 1.11 1.707 1.146 60 20.7 99.7 42 6 0.21 7 0.44 1.5 300 20 1000 40.0 18.6 >45.1 36.7 4.00 0.19 4.51 0.38 35 -60 45 -65 220 58 233 65

PHB 1.18 1.262 40 3.5 4 5 8 32.0 33.9 2.80 2.97 5 15 168 182

2.1. Physical properties

The density of a different kind of biopolymers is given in Table 1. Reports are mostly based on standards like ASTM D792. Density can be one of the critical design parameters because high density values imply high transportation costs as well as application of the material becomes much easier and the level of the hazard will be decreased when the products arelighter. Density is often used for the calculation of specific properties, i.e.

dividing mechanical properties by the appropriate density. According to flax reinforcement, (dl)-PLA, PCL and PHB seem to be the best choices since it is the purpose to produce a composite as light as possible. These unique properties give a better quality of the intrinsic strengthof the construction one wants to produce. Apart fromthe values given in Table 1 the densitydata, 1.02 g/cm3, found on PHO(Polyhydroxyoctanoate) may also seem interesting [13]. However, the calculation of the concrete mechanical property maylead to a different conclusion. Targeting for lower density polyester can also be a reason forchoosing it as composite reinforcement: its density is around 1.45 g/cm3. That is clear that it is significantly lower than that of the moreconventional glass fibre reinforcement (2.54 g/cm3).Selected data on several other useful propertiescould be found: curl [5,20], fluidity index [1 5,12,17,22,28],effect property [2,3,5,12,17,32], toughness[10,12,14,17], compostabilities [1,2,7], coefficientsof friction [1], area energy[1] and contactangles with water [38]. Since data in this and otherproperties have been so fragmented, they were almost impossible to assess.A very important property is the water content. Only values forPLA resins are known [4,38,25] and they are situated near0.5%. In actually the principal PLA producer (Cargill Dow)to explicitly specify that water must be removed fromthe components, by drying, up to below 250 parts per million, for a good treatment of the granules potential.All the biopolymers which are discussed here are quite hydrophilicpolyesters and so it is true that average wateruptake happens when these polymers are exposed towater. Especially composite materials, water uptake should be seen as drawback. Migration of water by a polymer could lead to a disruption of the fiber/resin UI, reduce the overall power of the compound. In event of linen strengthening this can be even more drastic since linen tend to absorb the fairly large amount of water if exposed.The resulting swelling could lead to severe loss in compositestrength. It may therefore be necessary to change the flax in order to reduce the water absorption considerably. The similarity of matrices and fiber polarity, on the other side, could prove to improve adherence. Compared the conventional pp (PP) that was in the earlier paper [13] chosen as best traditional elastomer array, the density is here are quite high. The degradation time is another important factor[4, 9, 14,19]. With regard to disposal policies, this degradationtime must be as brief as possible. Corrosion strength, on the other side, may reduce too much when a polymer has a very short breakdown period. Depending upon the sources and testing procedure,this times ranging from a few months (for thePGA/ PLA copolymer) more than 25 of month (for l-PLA).DPGA and (distribution list)-PLA reduce after approximately 1 annually. Based on these data, one can already concluded that PLA/PGA block copolymer seems to reduce too fast to
examine them for use in high-performance composite materials.

2.2. Mechanical properties

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Enhancement of Biodegradable Polymer Properties by Physical and Chemical Revisited Method

Mechanical properties of biomolecules, such as tensile strength, elongation, deformability, and elastic modulus, are every important, since packaging material must have sufficient mechanical resistance to keeptheir integrity during using and storage. The mechanical properties of biopolymer films depends on their composition and environmental conditions. For example, the integration of plasticizers increasedthemobility of the polymer links which leads to more stretching and reduced the tensile strength of the plastic coated17,19,21].Incorporation of other ingredient, such as lipids and cross-linked substances, can improve film strength and extensibility [30]. The moisture to the environment affect the mechanical properties of the biomolecule films. For example, hydrophobic films absorb humidity more easily at the higher moisture, thus increasing the plasticized impact of the water, which then lowers the strength andincreasethe extendibility ofthe film[29]. Only tensile parameters (ASTM D882, ASTM D638) are shown in Table 1 and Fig. 1. These parameters call: strain (s, in MPa%), tensile modulus (E, in MPa), peak stress (, MPa), and storage modulus(Pa). there is no flexural because the data about these parameters [3 5,18,41] was too restricted to use in the comparison.
Fig1. Tensile properties of various biopolymers [25,7,9,1219].

above which mechanical characteristics can degrade rapidly. Most study of biomolecules has already exceeded their Tg at that temperature but this is not necessarily the problem because the main part of the complex power is determined by the fiber. However, all LD-PLA with biomolecoules could probably be refused to use composite materials because in addition to its lower Tg (40-600C). They are amorphous. The T gof PGA and PHB are near tonormal ambient near to temperatures. The same can be said about PHV (polyhydroxyvalerate) with a T g of 5 0C and biopol(PHB/PHV copolymers 5-12% PHV) with a Tg of 18-22 0C[16]. The other study of biomolecules is probably doingbetter since their glass temperature is markedly different from the normal environment temperature [27,28]. On that basis also PHO (polyhydroxyoctanoate) is acceptable for use as array stuff since the theTg is -350C[23]. The melting point is a more key parameters. Above them, all plastic string movement happens and mechanical properties are almost zero. Together with melting point to one should also examine a process temperature. There is by definition much higher than melting things because at such high temperature the viscosity decrease dramatically in order to increase workability[26]. These temperature is not included in table 1 since only the data at PLA, range from 190 to 250 0C, can be found[13,24]. Generally the processor temperature is 20-100 0C above melting point [26]. The range mostly depends on the use of food additives which can prevent heat deterioration of polymers at high temperature. A small working temperature (and melting point), on the other side, can be beneficial when examining the energy costs manufacturing process[15,16]

3. Conclusion
It is the purpose of this document to find the most appropriate elastomer biomolecule array for a flax fibre reinforced polymer. Density and temperature related property to be a limiting criteria for the selection of an appropriate plastic. As has been pointed out, the mechanical resistance of the biomolecule is not important for this specific application. PGA can be easily removed as a candidate of the complex array used as the density and melting point is too high for saving energy. Also, large treatment the temperature will cause linen deterioration. PCL on the other hand can be view enough but the melt temperature too low to be used for the composite exposure to slightly raised the temperature. The dl-PLA/PGA copolymer of appear to be too easy degradation, which could indicate a low corrosionresistance, and in addition they are formless that would lead to bad adherence with the reinforcement fiber. In reality, any study plastic depending in distribution listPLA is formless and vitrification of the temperature is too low to guarantee the resistance slightly raised the temperature. Some other, not well-documented biopolymers can also be removed for use as array of flax

2.3. Characteristic temperatures

Temperature of polymer can be defined in many ways, but DSC (a differential calorimetric) is the most quoted one.The flexible and amorphous plastics will be reduced significantly when theyare cooled below a typical move heat as glass transition (Tg). At temperature below T g, there is no segment information movement and any dimensions change in polymers is the result of the temporary distortion of the main Valencia ties. Amorphous of plastic, like all of dl-PLA with those, do better under Tg, but the elastomer should be used above the fragile item[15].These property is always produced at standard condition (similar to ambient temperature), button must know that they can decrease at high temperatures and that of glass transition can be the limit

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Enhancement of Biodegradable Polymer Properties by Physical and Chemical Revisited Method

fiber-reinforced composite materials. For case PHO can lead to the light composite materials but its melting temperature is very low ( as in the case of PHV). PLA (and l-PLA) appear to result and on all the described: polymers and complex density is low, degradation behaviour, mechanical properties of vitrification temperature is accepted and its fusion point is almost perfect for the production of flax reinforced composite material. The dl-PLA/PGA copolymer of appear to be too easy degradation, which could indicate a low corrosionresistance, and in addition they are formless that would lead to bad adherence with the strengthening fibers. In reality, any study plastic depending on distribution listPLA is formless and glass transaction temperature is too low to guarantee the resistance slightly raised the temperature. Some other, not well-documented biomolecules can also be removed for use as a matrix of flax reinforced composite material. For case, PHO can lead to the light composite materials but its melting temperature is very low (as in the case of PHV). PLA (and l-PLA) seem to score well on all the discussed properties: polymer and composite densities are low; degradation behaviour, mechanical properties and glass transition temperatures are acceptable and their melt points are almost ideal in order to produce flax fibre reinforced composites. Preference should be paid to PLA instead of to l-PLA because the latter are likely to be more costly and PLA is already available. Density and melting point are the best for these polymeric but the lower glass transaction temperature can be an issue. Since all studying biomolecules is likely to be susceptible to the water, it is probably also need to change the linen in order to make it less susceptible to the water. In overall, the property that is reported here can help to decide to choose the right bio-polymers.As said, a better first choose some limited property and then further selected polymers with the best general property.

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