A Sustainable Transparent Packaging Material from the Arecanut Leaf Sheath

Abstract

Synthetic, non-degradable packaging materials have become a severe environmental threat, and therefore the demand is growing for environmentally friendly materials for sustainable packaging. This study presents a feasible method of developing a novel, sustainable packaging material using the Arecanut leaf sheath (ALS). CarboxyMethyl Cellulose was coated on the material for improving its mechanical properties. The results were compared with those of polythene: the most commonly used packaging material. The novel material has an areal density of 132.5 g per square meter and 1 mm thickness. The material also possesses a tearing strength of approximately 71% of polythene and exhibits approximately 5% elongation at failure. The bursting strength of the material was found to be three times higher (0.3 kg/cm2) than that of polythene (0.1 kg/cm2). The constitutive behaviour of the material was found to be orthotropic. The breaking force of the material was approximately 70% and 22% of polythene in lengthwise and widthwise directions, respectively. The transmittance of the material varied from 54 to 68% in the visible spectrum. Novel material shows a good thermal stability where initial degradation occurred in the temperature range of 200–375 °C.The tensile behaviour was also numerically modelled using the commercial finite element code LS-DYNA. The predicted stress–strain behaviour of the novel material by the numerical model is in close agreement with experimental results. ALS holds promise as a raw material in the development of transparent, sustainable packaging materials for a wide array of applications.