Desenvolvimento de formulações de polímeros biodegráveis a partir da modificação de derivados do milho via extrusão reativa.
Resumo
The human consumption of plastic and the consequent generation of waste has been growing
exponentially in the last century, causing several environmental impacts. One of the alternatives
to mitigate this effect is the use of biodegradable polymers to replace the commonly used
synthetic polymers. Starch is one of the most promising materials for this purpose, considering
its low cost, easy obtainment in nature and ability to be chemically, biologically and physically
modified. One of the sources of starch is corn and in Brazil its use is extremely attractive due
to the high production of this food. However, starch has limited properties in terms of
mechanical strength and hydrophilicity. Thus, studies have been carried out to improve the
properties of this material, making its processing and application more satisfactory. The
inclusion of glycerol, waste from the biodiesel industry, as a plasticizing agent, and coconut oil
to increase mechanical strength and resistance to water absorption are noteworthy. Thus, this
work investigated the effects of modifying the product derived from corn, pre-gelatinized
starch, for the processing of polymers using different concentrations of glycerol and coconut
oil through the reactive extrusion process in order to obtain new formulations of biodegradable
and renewable source products. Thermal, chemical and mechanical analyzes were carried out,
which demonstrated an improvement in the mechanical properties in relation to thermoplastic
starch (TPS), with an increase of up to 37.5% in the tensile strength limit and 32.1% in
elongation at break, for the concentration of 20.0% coconut oil. Water absorption tests showed
that the modified materials showed greater resistance to water absorption due to the
incorporation of coconut oil. Total biodegradation in simulated soil was up to 37 days, which
is an attractive result as it generates less environmental impact, considering that synthetic
polymers take hundreds of years to degrade in the environment.
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