The past decade has produced groundbreaking research in soy protein based plastics. The potential advantages of soy based plastics over conventional plastics are many. Soy resins come from renewable resources, are biodegradable, and therefore offer hope to the plastics industry for reduced landfill usage and reduced petroleum dependence. Soy protein based plastics are already competitive with commodity resins in terms of mechanical properties. Continuing research aims to further enhance the mechanical properties of soy protein plastics while maintaining price competitiveness. To date, research has explored several different processing methods, including injection molding and extrusion. However, the bulk of research has centered on compression molding of soy protein based plastics. Despite the growing body of work done in this area, no thorough review of the findings has been published. This paper reviews the progress in compression molding of soy protein based plastics. The paper's focus is two-fold: examining 1) the processing parameters and 2) the resin formulations and treatments that yield desired material properties. Additionally, the paper reports results of research on compression molded soy protein based plastics conducted at the Polymer Engineering Center.
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