Study on characterization of thin film based on Glutaraldehyde modified starch and propylene glycol

Plastics are being used all over the world but its disposal has threatened the environment. Thus this work outlines the synthesis of a biodegradable plastic that can meet the demand and can be disposed to the environment, Synthesis of biodegradable plastics was done using starch compiled with glutaraldehyde, propylene glycol and poly(vinyl) alcohol (PVA) which also called thermoplastic starch. Thermoplastic starch (TPS) is produce to replace the plastic productions that give many side effect to the environment and living thing. The tensile strength, FTIR analysis, moisture content, biodegradability and capacity of water absorption of the films were carried out to identify the film properties. The effect of glutaraldehyde modified starch plasticized with different amount of propylene glycol (PG) and the addition of PVA were analyzed by all the method and test. The plasticizer percentage that was used is 20% and 50% based on starch weight. The tensile strength of the TPS thin film sample increase when the percentage of PG increase. The addition of PVA make the TPS thin film more water resistance and increase the tensile strength. The moisture content of TPS thin film sample depend on the higher the percentage of propylene glycol, the higher the moisture content in TPS sample. TPS thin film sample with 20% of PG with PVA showed the highest tensile strength, 4.27N/mm2 and sample with 50% of PG has the highest moisture content which is 18.66%. Overall, can be conclude that the plasticizer concentration and the addition of PVA significantly influence the properties of the TPS thin film.