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

This study has been conducted on thin film urea modified starch. The main problem in this research is because of the production of plastic in the industrial, the production of plastic is from petroleum-based chemical, which cannot decompose. The purpose of this research is to study the effect of plasticizers (PG) on the cross-linker of urea modified starch in produce thin film and identify effect PVA addition on urea modified starch. Samples were prepared with different concentration PG (30% w/w and 50% w/w) with presence and absence PVA as the reaction between PG and PVA will give various effect to the thin film. The first stage of the research is the making thin film by blending starch, urea, propylene glycol and polyvinyl alcohol. Further, it tested the moisture content, water absorption, soil degradability, tensile strength and FTIR analysis. High moisture content of the sample resulted to the sample 50% w/w with PVA as well as the thickness of the sample. Tensile strength which having the highest value is thin film 30% w/w with PVA. Meanwhile, the highest percentage in water absorption is sample 50% w/w without PVA. The characterization also tested with FTIR machine showed the main function group presence such as amine, hydroxyl, carboxyl and carbonyl group. For soil burial test, the result shown that thin film with the presence of PVA is taking longer time to degrade than the absence of PVA. In this research, the influence of PVA on PG plasticizer affects the properties of thin films.