Abstract
Starch based green composites have been studied as potential materials to be used in several biomedical applications. This paper explores utilizing starch based composites reinforced with pseudostem banana fibers in fabricating biodegradable maxillofacial bone plates. Corn starch plasticized by 30 wt.% glycerin and 20 wt.% distilled water was used as a matrix. The produced thermoplastic starch (TPS) matrix is reinforced with pseudostem banana fibers at different weight fractions using hot pressing at 5 MPa and 160ºC for 30 minutes. Our experimental results showed that increasing the banana fibers weight fraction progressively improved the mechanical properties reaching a maximum at 50 wt.% fibers. The improvement in the mechanical properties of starch/banana fibers composite was attributable to the strong interaction between fibers and the starch matrix, as evidenced by a series of scanning electron micrographs of the fracture surface. Furthermore, experiments investigating thermal properties and water uptake also showed that the best results are achieved at the 50 wt.% banana fibers. The experimental results show that the starch matrix-banana fiber composites satisfy the maxillofacial bone fixation requirements.
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