Preparation and Characterization of Polylacticacid-Beeswax Polyblend.

Abstract

Nondegradable plastic waste could cause an environment problem due to its difficulty in degradation. The development of biodegradable polylacticacid (PLA)-beeswax polyblend is necessary to give alternatives of nondegradable plastic. PLA-beeswax polyblend were produced by mixing PLA and beeswax solution with various compositions namely 40:60, 50:50, 60:40, 70:30, and 80:20 by weight. The polyblends were tested for their tensile strength, density, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). PLA-beeswax polyblends were white in color. Tensile strength, elongation, and density increases as increasing of PLA constituents. FTIR spectrum of polyblend PLA-beeswax 80:20 did not show any new functional groups, meaning that the film was merely a physical mixture. Structure of the polyblend film revealed a homogenous film.