Improving Degradation Ability of Composite Starch/Chitosan by Additional Pineapple Leaf Microfibers for Food Packaging Applications

Abstract

Abstract Structural, mechanical properties, and bonding characteristic of plastic bio-composites (starch/chitosan) with an additional Pineapple leaf microfibers (PLM) for 3%, 6% and 9% were carried out by using X-Ray diffraction (XRD), tensile strength test, and Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, respectively. The value of tensile strength shows highest for plastic bi-composite with 9% PLM and also XRD spectra shows the amorphous phase with new structure was formed for all bio-composite + PLM. FTIR spectra shows the strong bonding formation as the effect of PLM indicated by increase the intensity of C-H and C=C bond with increasing the amount of PLM. From the biodegradation test shows the PLM strongly influenced to the degradation ability of bio-composite and the highest is for 9% PLM (>80% ). In addition, the lowest browning index is about 37.5% for bio-composite with additional 9% PLM which was determined by using fresh cherry (Muntingia calabura. L). It’s indicated that the plastic bio-composite with an additional PLM shows high potentials for new food packaging applications.