Preliminary Investigations On Some Mechanical Properties Of Selected Plastic Packaging Materials For Gari Packaging In Nigeria

Abstract Preliminary investigations on the Comparative Tensile Strength CTS and Percentage Elongations PE of some selected plastic materials used for gari packaging and storage was carried out. With the initial CTS and PE determined 500g each of freshly produced gari were packaged in a 20 x 40cm polyester polypropylene and hessian bags respectively. The CTS and PE were determined on monthly basis for 6 months at three replicates each. The results show that the polyester polypropylene and hessian bags had initial CTS of 0.98 3.19 3.68 and PE of 57.0 17.0 and 14.0 respectively. The CTS of all the packaging materials decreased with increase in storage duration. PE decreased by 75 and 53 for polyester and polypropylene bags while it increased by 7 in hessian bags. CTS and PE of packaging bags were significantly lower p0.05 than their initial values. The CTS of polypropylene and hessian bags were lower than their threshold values of 1.49 and 1.2Nmm indicating their unsuitability for long term storage of gari while for polyester bag it is still within the threshold value. However further work should be carried out to ascertain the probability of the effects of the composition of gari on the effects of these mechanical properties.