Properties of starch/carrageenan blend biocomposite with nanoclay reinforcement

The highly synthetic plastic waste makes worrisome problems for the biosphere, so the use of bioplastic was applied for reducing this problem. Biocomposite based cassava starch-carrageenan blend with nanoclay reinforcement has great potential to increase their properties. The research objective was to evaluate the biocomposite properties in the presence of nanoclay added to starch/carrageenan blend matrix composite. The method was an experiment research using addition various nanoclay content as much as 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5%, and 10.0% (wt/wt) into starch/carrageenan blend matrix. The procedures include a biocomposite synthesis using the casting methods and characterized of biocomposite properties using XRD, FTIR, SEM, and TGA. The mechanical strength was measured on a tensile strength tester. The results show that the nanoclay addition into starch/carrageenan matrix affects the structure, tensile strength, and thermal stability. This result shows that the addition of nanoclay into starch/carrageenan based matrix affects the mechanical properties, thermal stability through structural change. The variations of nanoclay content in biocomposite of 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10% results in a tensile strength of 580, 636, 760, 483, and 531 kPa and elastic modulus of 1621, 1681, 1745, 1133, 1176 kPa, respectively.