Photo by V. Miller
July 27, 2005
Biodegradable Polymers
Biodegradable Polymers and Their Composites
Pinaki Bose, 12, Fort Worth, Texas
Finalist, Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, 2004
Project background: At an aquarium, Pinaki heard about the dangers plastics pose to wildlife. He was delighted to see a dolphin grab a plastic bottle and pass it to a sea lion, who tossed it into a recycling bin. He decided to search for an alternative to conventional plastics. He contacted several experts who told him about biodegradable polymers.
Tactics and results: Pinaki discovered that the high cost of biodegradable plastics kept them from competing in the market. He decided to try to make a less expensive version of the polymer polycaprolactone, made from the milk sugar lactose, by reinforcing it with sawdust—a cheap, renewable resource. In a series of experiments, Pinaki mixed molten polycaprolactone with various proportions of fine and coarse sawdust. He shaped the resulting composites via standard plastic-working techniques such as warm rolling, compression molding, and injection molding.
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| Photo by V. Miller |
Pinaki discovered that one composite, with 20 percent sawdust, was stronger than pure polycaprolactone. All of the composites began to degrade after two months of exposure to the environment.
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