Biodegradability property of a biocomposite based on polyethylene/cellulose

This article is part of a research in which the possibility of preparing and formulation a biocomposite based on cellulose, polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) was studied. Therefore, the cellulose was blended with two kinds of PE, LDPE and HDPE in different formulations using internal blending machine at 125 and 145 oC, respectively. The biodegradability of the obtained composites was investigated via soil burial test. Thus in the certain periods, soil buried samples were taken out of the soil, removed of the soil and weighed. Analysis of the weight changes of the soil buried samples showed that their weight loss had a reducing trend, which means the biodegradability and disintegration had occurred in the samples. Therefore, the LDPE and HDPE- cellulose composites showed the significant biodegradability properties that depending on the aim of the composites applications, this property of samples may be desirable or undesirable.