Soybean Oil-based Biodegradable Plastic Foam

摘要

The demand for ecofriendly products or materials with properties similar to that ofsynthetic polymers is increasing. Studies to use natural materials to replace petroleum-based materials are widely employed. Composites with vegetable fibers as reinforcing agents and petroleum-based polymers as matrices hold the center of attention. Since most matrix resins in the composites are nonbiodegradable, substituting it with biopolymers from natural resources to make them completely biodegradable is a possible solution. In recent years, the researchers have conducted extensive study on the application of soybean in making plastics and composites. Soybean predominantly contains proteins and oil that can be converted to plastic or resin.