The role of various plastisizers and fillers additions in improving tensile strength of starch-based bioplastics: A mini review

The general public uses plastic extensively, particularly in food packaging. Plastic raw materials are generally petroleum derivatives with advantages such as high tensile strength, low cost, lightweight, ease of manufacture, and application. However, there are other disadvantages to plastic, which is not easily biodegradable. As a result, researchers have expressed a strong desire to develop biodegradable plastics in order to reduce the accumulation of non-biodegradable plastics in the environment. One of the candidates for producing bioplastic using natural resources is biodegradable plastics. Bioplastics based on starch are a common material used in the production of bioplastics. However, because bioplastics have lower tensile properties than conventional plastics, fillers are used to increase the strength of bioplastics. Fillers are used to reduce plastic cost, shrinkage during the setting process, and to improve tensile strength and hardness. As a result, the tensile and morphology of several starch-based biodegradable plastics with chitosan, CMC fiber, and clay as fillers will be reported in this review. According to our mini-review, sorbitol and CMC are very good plasticizers for starch-based bioplastics, and CMC has a higher crystallinity form, promoting greater interaction between the cellulose chains and starch-based matrix.