BIOTERMOPLASTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF MODIFIED CASSAVA STARCH AND GLUCOMANAN IN VARIATION OF TYPE AND CONCENTRATION OF THERMOPLASTIC FORMING MATERIALS

Synthetic plastic has become an environmental problem because it is difficult to decompose by microorganisms. Therefore the development of environmentally friendly bioplastics is urgent to do. Modified cassava starch and glucomannan have been used as raw materials for the development of environmentally friendly bioplastics. However, the development of both bioplastics and bioplastic composites still does not meet international standards. Therefore it is necessary to do engineering, one of which is to develop biothermoplastics from both materials. The formation of biothermoplastics is done by reacting the main polymer material with thermoplastic forming materials at certain types and concentrations. The long-term goal in this research is to obtain biotermoplastic composites from modified cassava starches and glucomannan that meet international standards with the target of international seminars, publication in international journals, obtain patents and can be mass produced. Meanwhile the specific objectives are to (1) determine the effect of type and concentration of thermoplastic forming materials on the characteristics of modified cassava starch biothermoplastic composites with characteristics of glucomannan, (2) determine the type and concentration of thermoplastic forming materials which are appropriate in order to obtain the modified cassava starch biothermoplastic composites that have characteristics best. This study uses a factorial randomized block design with two factors. Factor I is the type of thermoplastic forming material with 2 levels, namely diphenylmethane diisocyanate and polyurethane polyester. Factor II is the concentration of thermoplastic forming material consisting of 6 levels, 0, 0.1; 0.2; 0.3; 0.4; 0.5% w / w of the total ingredients so there are 12 combination treatments. Each treatment combination was grouped into 4 based on the time process of making biotermoplastic composites, so that there were 48 experimental units. The data obtained were analyzed for diversity and continued with Duncan's multiple comparison test. Variables observed included mechanical tests consisting of tensile strength tests, elongation at break and Modulus Young tests using ASTM D638, the ability or length of degradation of the resulting biotermoplastic composites and surface profiles using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and functional groups with FTIR spectrometers.