Latex-starch hybrid synthesis using CGDE method with ethanol addition and air injection

Latex has excellent flexibility, but poor of stiffness modulus. While starch is a polymer that widely used to improve the mechanical property such as stiffness modulus. The formation of latex-starch hybrid through grafting reactions is a solution to improve mechanical property of latex. However, polarity differences caused both to be difficult to mix. One method that can overcome this problem is contact glow discharge electrolysis (CGDE) which produces high energy in the process which can trigger the formation of bonds. The synthesis process was carried out using cathodic plasma with 1% -wt concentration of latex, the ratio of latex: starch was 100: 25, electrolyte Na2SO4 0.02 M, temperatures maintained at 60 oC for 30 minutes. This study aims to examine the effects of ethanol additives addition (5%v and 10%v) and air injection to the yield of latex-starch hybrid. The result shows that after adding ethanol with a concentration of 5%v and 10%v, the latex-starch hybrid production is decreased by 16.28% and 18.89% respectively. This study also shows that in the 30th minutes, the synthesis using air injection reached 65.81%; 16.60% higher than normal synthesis with cathodic plasma.