Abstract
The market share of biodegradable polymers from renewable sources has grown rapidly in the plastic industry. Properties of the polymers from renewable resources can be enhanced through blending and composite formation. Fermented chitin is a by-product in a bacterial prawn waste fermentation for protein recovery which has undergone mild chemical treatment producing treated fermented chitin (TFC). TFC was further acid hydrolysed to produce chitin nanowhiskers (TFCNW). The chitin nanowhiskers was used as filler in polylactic acid (PLA) through solution casting method. Atomic Force Microscopy showed TFCNW particles are uniformly dispersed in PLA matrix but tends to agglomerate as TFCNW loading increased. Tensile strength of the biocomposite film increased up to 12.4 MPa at 2 phr TFCNW which it decreased with further addition of TFCNW. The Young’s modulus increased with increasing of TFCNW content up to 3.69 GPa. However, elongation at break of the biocomposite film decreased by 66 % upon addition of TFCNW when compared to pure PLA.
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