Eco-friendly biocomposite foam from natural rubber latex and rice starch for sustainable packaging applications

An environmental pollution problem is caused in part by packaging materials made from non-biodegradable synthetic polymers derived from petroleum. In this study, eco-friendly biofoams derived from natural rubber (NR) latex and rice starch (RS) were manufactured on a laboratory scale using the Dunlop process. Rice starch content was varied from 0 to 50 phr. The morphological, thermal, physical, mechanical, and biodegradability properties of the NR/RS biocomposite foams were characterized. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to assess the morphology of the foam cells. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to investigate the thermal characteristics. When RS was present, it was discovered that the biocomposite foams had decreased thermal stability and enhanced biodegradability. Introducing RS into the NR/RS biocomposite foams also decreased tensile strength, elongation at break, and rebound resilience but increased the 100% modulus, hardness, compression force deflection (CFD), and compression set. The NR/RS biocomposite foams better preserved the banana fruit than the absence of foam, with lower ethylene accumulation, lower total soluble solids (TSS), higher pulp firoess, and good color preservation. This demonstrated that these NR/RS biocomposite foams helped to preserve banana fruit quality during storage and could be used in sustainable packaging applications.