Physical Properties of Carboxymethyl Cellulose Reinforced-Sucrose Plasticised Thermoplastic Mango Starch Biofilms

Attempt to save the planet from numerous environmental challenges has been an on-going activity for many decades, through the use of sustainable materials and processes. These have necessitated researches in materials science driven by sustainable chemical approach to derive sustainable materials that do not depend on fossil resources for industrial feedstock, and these materials do not have a negative outcome on the environment. This study investigated the physical and intermolecular interaction of Mango starch derived bioplastic plasticised with sucrose, and reinforced with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). Water uptake (WU) were observed to decrease significantly as the molar concentration of HCl or sucrose increases independently, and increase in WU was observation when CMC was increased (p ≤ 0.05). Increasing the molar concentration of HCl or the percentage amount of sucrose as plasticiser has no effect on the oil-uptake (OU), while increasing the percentage of CMC resulted to a decrease, which shows no effect as the CMC amount increases (p > 0.05). Vapour absorption index (VAI) showed a similar trend to WU but significantly, higher outcomes were observed (p ≤ 0.05). The FTIR results also indicate that a physical interaction has occurred between the blends increase in sucrose showed a change in the FTIR peaks especially in the broader peaks observed in the O-H regions of 3500-3200 cm-1 compared to unplasticized native mango starch.