Characteristics Of Thermoplastic Sugar Palm Starch/Agar Blend: Thermal,Tensile,And Physical Properties

The aim of this work is to study the behavior of biodegradable sugar palm starch (SPS) based thermoplastic containing agar in the range of 10–40 wt%.The thermoplastics were melt-mixed and then hot pressedat 140◦C for 10 min.SEM investigation showed good miscibility between SPS and agar.FT-IR analysisconfirmed that SPS and agar were compatible and inter-molecular hydrogen bonds existed betweenthem.Incorporation of agar increased the thermoplastic starch tensile properties (Young’s modulus andtensile strength).The thermal stability and moisture uptake increased with increasing agar content.Thepresent work shows that starch-based thermoplastics with 30 wt% agar content have the highest tensilestrength.Higher content of agar (40 wt%) resulted to more rough cleavage fracture and slight decreasein the tensile strength.In conclusion,the addition of agar improved the thermal and tensile propertiesof thermoplastic SPS which widened the potential application of this eco-friendly material.The mostpromising applications for this eco-friendly material are short-life products such as packaging,container,tray, etc