M. L. Sanyang

Development and characterization of sugar palm starch and poly(lactic acid) bilayer films.

The development and characterization of environmentally friendly bilayer films from sugar palm starch (SPS) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) were conducted in this study. The SPS-PLA bilayer films and their individual components were characterized for their physical, mechanical, thermal and water barrier properties. Addition of 50% PLA layer onto 50% SPS layer (SPS50-PLA50) increased the tensile strength of neat SPS film from 7.74 to 13.65MPa but reduced their elongation at break from 46.66 to 15.53%. The incorporation of PLA layer significantly reduced the water vapor permeability as well as the water uptake and solubility of bilayer films which was attributed to the hydrophobic characteristic of the PLA layer. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of SPS50-PLA50 revealed lack of strong interfacial adhesion between the SPS and PLA. Overall, the incorporation of PLA layer onto SPS films enhances the suitability of SPS based films for food packaging.

Development of expert system for biobased polymer material selection: food packaging application

Biobased food packaging materials are gaining more attention owing to their intrinsic biodegradable nature and renewability. Selection of suitable biobased polymers for food packaging applications could be a tedious task with potential mistakes in choosing the best materials. In this paper, an expert system was developed using Exsys Corvid software to select suitable biobased polymer materials for packaging fruits, dry food and dairy products. If – Then rule based system was utilized to accomplish the material selection process whereas a score system was formulated to facilitate the ranking of selected materials. The expert system selected materials that satisfied all constraints and selection results were presented in suitability sequence depending on their scores. The expert system selected polylactic acid (PLA) as the most suitable material.

Effect of Plasticizer Type and Concentration on Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Sugar Palm Starch–Based Films

In the quest for biodegradable and environmentally friendly packaging materials, starch-based films have been considered as a potential alternative to address ecological problems that emerged from the use of nonbiodegradable petroleum-based plastics. Thus, this article presents a new biopolymer (sugar palm starch) for the preparation of biodegradable packaging films using the solution-casting technique. The effects of different plasticizer types (glycerol [G], sorbitol [S], and glycerol-sorbitol [GS] combination) with varying concentrations (0, 15, 30, and 45, w/w %) on the dynamic mechanical properties of sugar palm starch (SPS) films were evaluated. It was observed that the storage (E′) and loss modulus (E″) of the plasticized SPS films decrease as plasticizer concentration increases from 15 to 45%. S-plasticized films showed higher storage modulus (1000 MPa) than G (880 MPa) and GS (920 MPa) plasticized films, irrespective of plasticizer concentration.

Design and Fabrication of Kenaf Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites for Portable Laptop Table

Natural fibre is an emerging material that can help to reduce the dependency on non-renewable resources and sustains the ecological balance. This research focuses on the design and fabrication of a laptop table using kenaf fibre reinforced polymer composite. A composite portable laptop table was developed using standard design method and the manufacturing method used was hand lay-up. Market investigation, product design specification, conceptual design, detail design followed by fabrication were performed accordingly throughout this project. Stress distribution and deformation of the end product was tested using simulation software. This research has enabled to produce a strong, stable and aesthetic furniture which is made from composite material.

Expert Material Selection for Manufacturing of Green Bio Composites

The innovation in material science reveals more materials day by day and the material database grows exponentially. The conventional material selection systems fail to handle this large material database. The explosion all over the world is increasingly using the computing power to solve complex problems. Accordingly, it is applied in the field of engineering to obtain an optimum solution. The Expert System is a computer application that emulates the decision-making ability of a human expert for a specific task. This chapter presents a brief perception of implementing the expert systems for material selection of green bio composites. Due to the increasing ecological problem the synthetic materials are being reduced in the manufacturing industry and replaced by so called “bio composite” materials. The bio composites have different fibre orientations, matrices and constitutions would result in diverse characteristics in physical, mechanical, thermal and environmental properties. These dissimilar attributes of bio composites would increase the challenges for the material selection process. Hence, few case studies with automotive interior components are discussed for better understanding and to show the implementation of the expert system for the material selection of green bio composites. The result shows that these expert system has dramatically advanced the material selection to enforce green technology and sustainability in manufacturing and design.

Conceptual Design of Biocomposites for Automotive Components

Recently, biocomposites became highly valuable due to their environmental advantages. The growing environmental awareness of people and the new stringent green policies enacted by governments has intensify the search and development of more environmentally friendly materials to preserve our immediate environment and public health. However, the selection of bio-based materials is quite difficult to perform compared to conventional materials like synthetic fibers and plastics. Hence, the use of computer aided tools for choosing bio-based materials help to minimize material selection errors and accommodates the increasing number of new materials as well as prevents financial and time loss. This review presented a brief insight of biocomposite materials selection using computer aided systems such as expert systems. Multi-criteria decision making models or tools also plays significant role in the evaluation and selection of materials. Numerous factors of various materials such as mechanical properties, material cost, environmental performance, just to name a few, are considered in the material selection process. These factors mostly contradict or even conflict with each other, which further complicates the task. Hence, to alleviate material selection problems and ease out decision making procedures, multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach is employed. MCDM is classified into multi attribute decision making (MADM) and multi objective decision making (MODM). MADM is the most common approach utilized for composite material selection purposes. This chapter also discusses about life cycle assessment (LCA) of products which is one of the widely used techniques in analyzing and quantifying the effect of biocomposite products on the surrounding environment during their total life time. Finally, a Case study on material selection of Bio-resin for biocomposites using modified digital logic and weighted property method was presented.

Effect of cassava peel and cassava bagasse natural fillers on mechanical properties of thermoplastic cassava starch: Comparative study

Increased awareness of environmental and sustainability issues has generated increased interest in the use of natural fiber reinforced composites. This work focused on the use of cassava roots peel and bagasse as natural fillers of thermoplastic cassava starch (TPS) materials based on cassava starch. The effect of cassava bagasse (CB) and cassava peel (CP) content on the tensile properties of cassava starch (CS) biocomposites films was studied. The biocomposites films were prepared by casting technique using cassava starch (CS) as matrix and fructose as plasticizer. The CB and CP were added to improve the properties of the films. The addition of both fibers increased the tensile strength and modulus while decreased the elongation at break of the biocomposites films. Films containing CB showed higher tensile strength and modulus as compared to the films containing the same amount of CP. The addition of 6 % bagasse increased the modulus and maximum tensile stress to 581.68 and 10.78 MPa, respectively. Thus, CB is considered to be the most efficient reinforcing agent due to its high compatibility with the cassava starch. The use of CB and CP as reinforcement agents for CS thermoplastic cassava added value to these waste by-products and increase the suitability of CS composite films as environmentally friendly food packaging material.Increased awareness of environmental and sustainability issues has generated increased interest in the use of natural fiber reinforced composites. This work focused on the use of cassava roots peel and bagasse as natural fillers of thermoplastic cassava starch (TPS) materials based on cassava starch. The effect of cassava bagasse (CB) and cassava peel (CP) content on the tensile properties of cassava starch (CS) biocomposites films was studied. The biocomposites films were prepared by casting technique using cassava starch (CS) as matrix and fructose as plasticizer. The CB and CP were added to improve the properties of the films. The addition of both fibers increased the tensile strength and modulus while decreased the elongation at break of the biocomposites films. Films containing CB showed higher tensile strength and modulus as compared to the films containing the same amount of CP. The addition of 6 % bagasse increased the modulus and maximum tensile stress to 581.68 and 10.78 MPa, respectively. Thus,...