Effect on Tensile and Flexural Properties of Polyolefin's/Maleic Anhydride Grafted Polyolefins and Starch Modified with Different Plasticizers

One of the most important and most studied groups of biodegradable polymers is carbohydrate. Research is on, to use starch and modify it, in such a way, so that it becomes useful and provides an alternative to biodegradable polymers developed. The cost effectiveness of this natural polymer is attracting researchers to find an alternative. Potato starch based biodegradable polymers were prepared using mA-grafted polyolefins, LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE and PP. Different plasticizers like Glycerol, Sorbitol and Urea were used for gelatinization of potato starch. The compositions were extruded through twin screw extruder and sheets were prepared through compression moulding technique. Typical mechanical and flexural properties of the compositions have been compared in order to find the strength of the prepared samples. Observations are a) mixing of starch up to 15 % with different plasticizers does not affect the mechanical & flexural properties of blends, b) blends with PP show good mechanical & flexural properties in comparison, c) Glycerol based GTPS blend samples show the best results in comparison.