EFFECT OF RADIATION TREATMENT ON STARCH BIOPLASTIC- A REVIEW

Currently, there was an intensive study to used starch as raw material to produce bioplastic for a wide range of applications. However, starch-based has limited the range of applications due to their unfavorable properties such as brittleness, increase the viscosity, retrogradation and insolubility in cold water. There ionizing radiation was introduced. With the proper amount of energy and source, ionizing radiation will improve the starch-based bioplastic properties which is having mechanical and barrier properties. In this paper, the ionizing radiation source that compared with is ultraviolet (UV), electron beam, and gamma ray. Each of the rays gives a different result and gamma ray give the most promising result, however above 40kGy it will compromise the structure and properties of the starch based bioplastic. For conclude, ionizing radiation will improve the starch based bioplastic properties and will not compromise their properties within the appropriate range of energy.