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Epoxidized Jatropha Oil as a Sustainable Plasticizer to Poly(lactic Acid)

Chieng BW 1 , Ibrahim NA 2 , Then YY 3 , Loo YY 4

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. chieng891@gmail.com
  • 2 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. norazowa@upm.edu.my
  • 3 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, No. 126, Jalan Jalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. yoonyeetyy84@yahoo.com
  • 4 Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. yuet_ying88@hotmail.com
Polymers (Basel), 2017 Jun 02;9(6).
PMID: 30970882 DOI: 10.3390/polym9060204

Abstract

A renewable resource, epoxidized jatropha oil (EJO), was used as a green plasticizer and added to poly(lactic acid) (PLA). EJO was compounded into PLA at different contents. The addition of 3 wt % EJO to the PLA demonstrates significant improvement in flexibility, which leads to a percentage increase of about 7000% in elongation at break. This tensile result was confirmed by surface morphology analysis with clear proof of plastic deformation in EJO-plasticized PLA. EJO imparts a good heat stabilization effect. Thermal stability of PLA was enhanced upon addition of EJO, which is due to their good interaction and plasticizer dispersion within the PLA matrix. This EJO-plasticized PLA has wide applications in various industries, such as packaging of food and non-food products.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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