Starch Composites
Fossil fuels and their extraction are proceeding to have a serious effect on the eco-system, and the plastics industry has surely played a significant role in contributing to these ill effects.
At Greentech, we’re interested to reduce the plastic industry, so that plastics can continue to be the useful materials they generally have been without leaving such a lasting impact on our eco-system. Starch-composite plastics are a great choice for doing just that. These bio-composites can replace up to 65 percent of traditional plastics which is made from petroleum-based raw materials.
Green tech Starch Composites
- Adds natural feel
- Made with renewable resources
- Reduced mould shrinkage
- Added stiffness
What are starch-based plastics?
Bioplastics help manufacturing organizations stay competitive by assisting to meet rising consumer expectations of sustainability. They are often derived from various biomass sources, the most widely utilized being a starch, which is a natural polymer that can be incorporated in different materials. Starch-based plastics can be used in a variety of applications since they can be incorporated with different petroleum-based polymers or biopolymers to make unique composite materials. These composite materials extruded utilizing standard processing machinery.
In general, starch-based plastics are more cost-competitive than other bioplastics. They can accommodate a wide range of physical properties that alternative bioplastics lack, such as rigidity and heat resistance. Starch composites can also incorporate reused plastics. Our team suggests starch-based plastics when reused plastics should be utilized or if customers require a material that exhibits properties alternative biobased materials can’t display.
Environmental benefits
Starch can be utilized to reduce the carbon footprint of traditional resins because they can replace petroleum-based polymers with natural ones. It is also highly degradable, means it can be used alongside a compostable polymer without interfering with the degradation process.
What are the applications?
The Green Tech Bioplastics team has successfully developed shopping bags, garbage bags,
T-shirt bags, oxo-biodegradable bags, flat bags and various types of packaging from compostable, starch-based plastics.
Starch-based plastics have raised in relevance with the introduction of improved resin grades, their ability to blend with other biopolymers and an increasing number of providers. In fact, starch-based bioplastics are widely utilized in the medical field because of their biocompatibility, low toxicity, degradation properties and mechanical properties.
What starch-based plastics has green tech Bioplastics created?
Our team has a wide range of available formulas for customers, created to increase the bio-content of items made with petroleum-based plastics and to quicken the biodegradation process of biodegradable plastics.
Like most biopolymers, starch-based materials can be bio-based durable materials; they can be used in quite a few compostable formulas. Either way, they can be utilized for injection moulding grades, extrusion grades or film grades.
Manufacturing considerations
Temperature is critical because a starch component can discolour or burn if the process temperature is above 400°F. Furthermore, a starch segment’s natural properties make it susceptible to moisture over time, which is why pre-drying is strongly suggested. Extra considerations include accommodating the completed part’s physical property requirements as well as mould design. For example, parts with thin-wall sections may require higher melt flows.
What does the future look like?
Future exploration in starch-based plastics will likely be pointed towards biodegradable applications. The challenge is to increase the physical properties of composites through changes to the polymer’s chemistry or formulation. We will also see a wide scope of renewable, recovered and compostable materials replace traditional, petroleum-based plastics (a movement that is already underway).
