fairfolio
Saved Projects

Manipulating Concentrations of Plant-Based Starches to Optimize Durability for Use in Biodegradable Plastics

CSEF · 2019 Applied Mechanics & Structures

William K. Chung · Gunn (Henry M.) High School, Palo Alto, Santa Clara County

Overview

Objectives Obtaining the most durable biodegradable plastic in terms of tensile strength and water resistance by utilizing combinations of several plant-based starches. Methods Tested the tensile strength of the biodegradable plastic by devising a system where one side of the plastic is attached to a stationary object and the other is attached to a bucket holding weights. By placing more and more weights in the bucket, I could tell at which point the plastic would break and record the amount of weight. Tested the water resistance by placing the plastic on top of a cup and placing water in the center. The amount of time passed before the water fell through was recorded. Used a homemade compressor to get plastic to uniform thickness and size. Results When comparing seven different types of starches, using potato starch had the greatest relative tensile strength and using tapioca starch had the greatest relative water resistance. Conclusions These results suggest that when producing biodegradable plastics, it is best to use potato starch for its high tensile strength and tapioca starch for its high water resistance time. This could be later on used for biodegradable plastic products such as bags, aiding in the resolution of environmental problems.

Summary statement

I used different types of starches to create a biodegradable plastic and tested which would produce the most durable product.

Help received

I used the internet to research about the different properties of starch and how biodegradable plastic is made. I used this information as a basis for my experiment. I did not receive any help from mentors/ teachers.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2019 Applied Mechanics & Structures · Entry S0307

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google