Ysrael Y. Ambos, Jerico Alfred S. Crisostomo (March 2006)
Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus – Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PSHS WVC), Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines
ABSTRACT
Plastics are more important to our day-to-day life but this material is harmful to our environment. Biodegradable plastics are seen as an alternative for plastic products that have longer life cycle.
This study was done to produce biodegradable plastics from cow and goat’s milk and determined and compared the density, moisture absorbency, dimensional stability, and flammability of the said biodegradable plastics. Heating the milk and getting the curds and molding the curds produced the biodegradable plastics.
Three replicates of each plastic were tested using the four properties. The density was measured using the water displacement method. Percent water absorption was measured for moisture absorbency. Percent dimensional change was measured for dimensional stability. And falmmability was measured using the vertical flame test.
There exist a significant difference in the density (p=0.014, a=0.015), moisture absorbency (p= 0.002, a=0.05), dimensional stability (p=0.006, a=0.05), and flammability (p=0.014, a=0.05)of biodegradable plastics from cow’s milk and goat’s milk.
Biodegradable plastics from cow’s milk are better in terms of density, moisture absorbency, and flammability but poor in dimensional stability.